Derivatives

Day 2

Tuesday August 5th, 2025

A single green point, looking victorious with arms raised, which is now representing the yellow and blue points have converged (delta x is infinitely small). Text reads 'The expression for the instantaneous slope at any point on a function, aka the derivative, is found by (1) Finding an expression for the slope between two points on the function separated by delta x, and (2) evaluating that slope as the points get infinitely close together.'

Artwork by Allison Horst

Class materials

Session Lecture slides Interactive session
day 2 / morning Definition of the derivative Derivatives by hand and in R
day 2 / afternoon Higher order & partial derivatives Partial & higher order derivatives in R

End-of-day practice

Complete the following tasks / activities before heading home for the day!

Additional Resources