Differentiation from First Principles

Summary

to find the gradient of a curve at a particular point, the gradient of the tangent at that point is found.

the gradient function finds the gradient of a function at any point, for any value of x where the function is differentiable.

the gradient function is sometimes called the derived function or the derivative.

the process of finding the gradient function is is called differentiation.

Key Skills

find the gradient function for simple functions from first principles.

Vocabulary

gradienttangent, gradient functionfunction, derived function,differentiationdifferentiabledifferentiate, limits