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3.5.1 Differentiation

D[f, x] partial derivative
D[f, x, y, ... ] multiple derivative
D[f, {x, n}] n derivative
D[f, x, NonConstants -> { ,  , ... }]
 with the  taken to depend on

Partial differentiation operations.
This gives  .

In[1]:=  D[x^n, x]

Out[1]=

This gives the third derivative.

In[2]:=  D[x^n, {x, 3}]

Out[2]=

You can differentiate with respect to any expression that does not involve explicit mathematical operations.

In[3]:=  D[ x[1]^2 + x[2]^2, x[1] ]

Out[3]=

D does partial differentiation. It assumes here that y is independent of x.

In[4]:=  D[x^2 + y^2, x]

Out[4]=

If y does in fact depend on x, you can use the explicit functional form y[x]. Section 3.5.4 describes how objects like y'[x] work.

In[5]:=  D[x^2 + y[x]^2, x]

Out[5]=

Instead of giving an explicit function y[x], you can tell D that y implicitly depends on x. D[y, x, NonConstants->{y}] then represents  , with y implicitly depending on x.

In[6]:=  D[x^2 + y^2, x, NonConstants -> {y}]

Out[6]=

D[f, {{ ,  , ... }}] the gradient of a scalar function f
D[f, {{ ,  , ... }, 2}] the Hessian matrix for f
D[f, {{ ,  , ... }, n}] the   order Taylor series coefficient
D[{ ,  , ... }, {{ ,  , ... }}] the Jacobian for a vector function f

Vector derivatives.
This gives the gradient of the function  .

In[7]:=  D[x^2 + y^2, {{x, y}}]

Out[7]=

This gives the Hessian.

In[8]:=  D[x^2 + y^2, {{x, y}, 2}]

Out[8]=

This gives the Jacobian for a vector function.

In[9]:=  D[{x^2 + y^2, x y}, {{x, y}}]

Out[9]=


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