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A-level Mathematics/Edexcel/Core 1/Differentiation
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Differentiation is the opposite to integration and you use dy/dx. To differentiate an equation, you drop the power in the front of the equation and you decrease the power by 1.
E.g. becomes
or
By substituting x values into dy/dx, you are able to find the gradient at a certain point on a graph.
is known as the first deriative of an equation. is known as the second deriative. It is first deriative differentiated a second time.
Continuing from the example above,
becomes
The deriatives can be displayed in a few different ways in questions. It can be presented as dy/dx or f'(x).