Thread: Derivatives and first principles ??? help please

What is the difference between deriving and deriving using first principles ?

for example how would you use first principles to find the derivative of y=7/(rootx + 6)

and y = 1 / 2x

Originally Posted by nosh

What is the difference between deriving and deriving using first principles ?

for example how would you use first principles to find the derivative of y=7/(rootx + 6)

and y = 1 / 2x

Finding derivatives by first principles means to use the definition of the derivative. recall that we define the derivative of a function as follows



provided the limit exists.

now use that to find the derivatives. you can check your answers by doing the derivatives the short way