A Gentle Introduction to Function Derivatives

The concept of the derivative is the building block of many topics of calculus. It is important for understanding integrals, gradients, Hessians, and much more.

In this tutorial, you will discover the definition of a derivative, its notation and how you can compute the derivative based upon this definition. You will also discover why the derivative of a function is a function itself.

After completing this tutorial, you will know:

• The definition of the derivative of a function
• How to compute the derivative of a function based upon the definition
• Why some functions do not have a derivative at a point

Let’s get started.