Leaving Cert. Higher Level Maths - Differentiation - Idea Of Differentiation And Differentiation From First Principles

Idea Of Differentiation And Differentiation From First Principles - By Lucinda Longmore

How to use this applet:

To move to the next page the user is required to click on a button at the bottom of the screen.On the third page the user is required to select coefficients for 'x' and a constant from choice boxes in order to differentiate a simple function. Once selected the user should click on the 'step 1' button to see the next page with the first stage of the calculation:f(x+h).The user is then only required to click on the 'step 2' button to show the next page and so on until the final answer is achieved.The user can then click on the 'Back' button to return to the start.
Notes on the maths used in the applet:
Finding the derivative of a function y=f(x) by finding lim h-o (f(x+h) - f(x))/h is called differentiating from first principles. A simple example of differentiating a function from first principles is given in the applet.