Pages similar to: Derivation of the directional derivative and the gradient
- An introduction to the directional derivative and the gradient
Interactive graphics about a mountain range illustrate the concepts behind the directional derivative and the gradient of scalar-valued functions of two variables. - Directional derivative and gradient examples
Examples of calculating the directional derivative and the gradient. - Introduction to differentiability in higher dimensions
An introduction to the basic concept of the differentiability of a function of multiple variables. Discussion centers around the existence of a tangent plane to a function of two variables. - Examples of calculating the derivative
Examples showing how to calculate the derivative and linear approximation of multivariable functions. - The definition of differentiability in higher dimensions
The definition of differentiability for multivariable functions. Informal derivation designed to give intuition behind the condition for a function to be differentiable. - Subtleties of differentiability in higher dimensions
A description of some of the tricky ways where a function of multiple variables can fail to be differentiable. Example two variable functions are illustrated with interactive graphics. - The derivative matrix
The derivative matrix is presented as a natural generalization of the single variable derivative to multivariable functions. - The multidimensional differentiability theorem
Discussion of theorem that gives conditions which guarantee that a multivariable function is differentiable. - Non-differentiable functions must have discontinuous partial derivatives
A visual tour demonstrating discontinuous partial derivatives of a non-differentiable function, as required by the differentiability theorem. - A differentiable function with discontinuous partial derivatives
Illustration that discontinuous partial derivatives need not exclude a function from being differentiable. - The gradient vector
The gradient vector is the matrix of partial derivatives of a scalar valued function viewed as a vector. - Introduction to partial derivatives
The concept of partial derivatives is introduced with an illustration of heating costs. Interactive graphics demonstrate the properties of partial derivatives. - Partial derivative examples
Examples of how to calculate partial derivatives. - Partial derivative by limit definition
Description with example of how to calculate the partial derivative from its limit definition. - The multivariable linear approximation
Introduction to the linear approximation in multivariable calculus and why it might be useful. - Introduction to the multivariable chain rule
Introduction to the multivariable chain rule. The basic concepts are illustrated through a simple example. - Multivariable chain rule examples
Examples demonstrating the chain rule for multivariable functions. - Derivatives of parameterized curves
The derivative of the vector-valued function parameterizing a curve is shown to be a vector tangent to the curve. - Parametrized curve and derivative as location and velocity
Description of a parametrization of a curve as the position of a particle and the derivative as the particle's velocity. Illustrated with animated graphics. - The gradient theorem for line integrals
A introduction to the gradient theorem for conservative or path-independent line integrals.