A STUDY ON DERIATIVES AND THEIR APPLICATION

Submitted by:
UMESH BIKRAM SHAH
Grade: ‘XII’
Faculty: Science ‘P2’
Roll: ‘44’
Submitted to:
Department of Mathematics

Triton International SS/College

Subidhanagar, Tinkune, Kathmandu
ABSTRACT;
INTRODUCTION
Derivative, in mathematics is the rate of change of a function with respect to a variable.
Derivatives are fundamental to the solution of problems in calculus and differential equations.

The derivative is the first of the two main tools of calculus (the second being the integral). The
derivative is the instantaneous rate of change of a function at a point in its domain. This is the
same thing as the slope of the tangent line to the graph of the function at that point. In order to
give a rigorous definition for the derivative, we need the concept of limit introduced in the
preceding section. Given a function f, we can define a derivative function f' to take on the value
of the derivative of f  at each point in the domain.

Once we have taken the derivative of a function f , we can take the derivative again. This is
called the second derivative of the original function f, and equals the "instantaneous rate of
change of the instantaneous rate of change" of f. 

History/Background:

Sir Isaac Newton was a mathematician and scientist, and he was the
first person who is credited with developing calculus. It is is an
incremental development, as many other mathematicians had part of
the idea. Newton’s teacher, Isaac Barrow, said “the fundamental
theorem of calculus” was present in his writings but somehow he
didn’t realize the significance of it nor highlight it. As Newton’s
teacher, his pupil presumably learned things from him. Fermat
invented some of the early concepts associated with calculus: finding
derivatives and finding the maxima and minima of equations. Many
other mathematicians contributed to both the development of the
derivative and the development of the integral.

Newton was, apparently, pathologically dislike to controversy.

Ironically, the person who was so averse to it ended up involve in the biggest controversy in
mathematics history about a discovery in mathematics. It was a cause and effect that was not an
accident; it was his aversion that caused the controversy.
The controversy surrounds Newton’s development of the concept of calculus during the middle
of the 1660s. Between 1664 and 1666, he asserts that he invented the basic ideas of calculus. In
1669, he wrote a paper on it but refused to publish it. He wrote two additional papers, in 1671
and 1676 on calculus, but wouldn’t publish them. In time, these papers were eventually
published. The one he wrote in 1669 was published in 1711, 42 years later. The one he wrote in
1671 was published in 1736, nine years after his death in 1727. The paper he wrote in 1676 was
published in 1704. None of his works on calculus were published until the 18th century, but he
circulated them to friends and acquaintances, so it was known what he
had written. This wasn’t just hearsay, and he used the techniques of
calculus in his scientific work

But Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz independently invented calculus. He

invented calculus somewhere in the middle of the 1670s. He said that he
conceived of the ideas in about 1674, and then published the ideas in
1684, 10 years later. His paper on calculus was called “A New Method
for Maxima and Minima, as Well Tangents, Which is not Obstructed by
Fractional or Irrational Quantities.” It was six pages, extremely obscure,
and was very difficult to understand.