What is Differentiation?

Differentiation is finding the derivative of an equation. The easiest way to understand it is to look at examples and then practice on more complex questions. These for examples show the three basic principles for when to differentiateExample 1: If y= 10x then dy/dx= 10x⁰ = 10 I did this by multiplying the constant(10) by 1 (because x is to the power of 1) and then decreased the power by 1 leaving x⁰ Example 2: y = 1/10 x then dy/dx = 1/10 Example 3: y = 10/x therefore dy/dx = - 10/x² Whenever you are differentiating and you have a fraction with a constant on top, you must rearrange your equation so that all x terms are also on top. During your algebra chapter you may have learned that 1/x = x^-1 Therefore with this equation we rearrange it to become 10x^-1 We continue as we did with example 1 decreasing our power by 1 and we are left with -10x^-2 Now to finish off and tidy our equation we bring the x^-2 down leaving us with - 10/x²