Homework Help Forum: Calculus

Posted by Ralph on Monday, October 26, 2009 at 6:26pm.

What is the difference between f'(x), y', and dy/dx?

• Calculus - Reiny, Monday, October 26, 2009 at 7:35pm

  Just notation. they mean the same thing. I say tomato, you say "to-maato"

  
  

• Calculus - MathMate, Monday, October 26, 2009 at 7:40pm

  If y is the dependent variable and x the independent variable, they are all the same. The minor syntaxical differences are 1. in f'(x), the variable y is not necessary, as f(x) takes the place of y. 2. in y' (Newton's notation), the independent variable is understood according to context. If there is no other information, it would probably be x. 3. dy/dx (Leibniz notation) This is the explicit form with no ambiguities.

  
  

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