A great man once said, "The derivative is the slope of the tangent at any point". I'm still not entirely sure how any of this applies to real life, but it doesn't matter because I actually understand what's going on! This handy-dandy 4 Step Process right here:
1. Find f(x+h)
2. Write f(x+h)-f(x) and simplify
3. Write f(x+h)-f(x)
h
4. Take lim f(x+h)-f(x)
h→0 h
was extremely helpful and easy to use. Of course we're just in the baby phases of derivatives, but any math that I can comprehend is considered good math. There was also those neat little lab we did where looked at graphs and found derivatives with rulers and estimated points. As simple as it was, it felt pretty important. By that, I mean it actually felt applicable to real life (although I still don't know where). I found the algebra covered this week to be fairly simple, however the labs where we had to make gifs ate away at my soul. Having a 4 Step Process is something that is easy to follow; all you have to do is plug and chug. When I'm instructed to make graphs look a certain way with no further instruction... that's where things get dicey. I simply don't excel at open ended answers where I actually have to use my brain (I do consider it to be a very common trait though). I don't know where any of this is going, but I'm certain this week has been fairly easy because all h*ck is about to break loose in the time to come. I've only ever heard horror stories of derivatives; never anything nice. It is October after all, the most sp00ky time of the year.
Bonus sp00ky link!
1. Find f(x+h)
2. Write f(x+h)-f(x) and simplify
3. Write f(x+h)-f(x)
h
4. Take lim f(x+h)-f(x)
h→0 h
was extremely helpful and easy to use. Of course we're just in the baby phases of derivatives, but any math that I can comprehend is considered good math. There was also those neat little lab we did where looked at graphs and found derivatives with rulers and estimated points. As simple as it was, it felt pretty important. By that, I mean it actually felt applicable to real life (although I still don't know where). I found the algebra covered this week to be fairly simple, however the labs where we had to make gifs ate away at my soul. Having a 4 Step Process is something that is easy to follow; all you have to do is plug and chug. When I'm instructed to make graphs look a certain way with no further instruction... that's where things get dicey. I simply don't excel at open ended answers where I actually have to use my brain (I do consider it to be a very common trait though). I don't know where any of this is going, but I'm certain this week has been fairly easy because all h*ck is about to break loose in the time to come. I've only ever heard horror stories of derivatives; never anything nice. It is October after all, the most sp00ky time of the year.
Bonus sp00ky link!