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#1 2005-12-02 09:33:22
- fatulant
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- Registered: 2005-12-01
- Posts: 10
What is a partial derivative?
and how do you find one?
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#2 2005-12-02 09:48:27
- Flowers4Carlos
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- Registered: 2005-08-25
- Posts: 106
Re: What is a partial derivative?
partial derivative is basically holding one variable constant and differentiating with respect to another variable. for example: z = 3x + 4y
the partial of z with respect to x is 3 (hold y constant)
the partial of z with respect to y is 4 (hold x constant)
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#3 2005-12-02 09:58:50
- fatulant
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- Registered: 2005-12-01
- Posts: 10
Re: What is a partial derivative?
So what uses do they have?
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#4 2005-12-02 10:19:15
- Flowers4Carlos
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- Registered: 2005-08-25
- Posts: 106
Re: What is a partial derivative?
one use is in optimization problems. if you want to find the minimum cost of constructing, oh i don't don't, say a can, you would probably use partial derivaties.
i'm sure someone in the field can give you a better use for it.
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