• Congratulations to the Class of 2024 on your results!
    Let us know how you went here
    Got a question about your uni preferences? Ask us here

Differentiate pi^3 (1 Viewer)

Status
Not open for further replies.

Shadowdude

Cult of Personality
Joined
Sep 19, 2009
Messages
12,145
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
Trying LaTeXing a 70 page document :p
Two years from now. Honours thesis. *shudder*


i've heard stories from honours students: "i just use templates", "i got my friend's thesis and just edited the words but kept the formatting", "i saw the professor have a book about this thick *gestures with hands* called 'How to Use Latex'", etc.

:(
 

funstudy

Member
Joined
Aug 31, 2011
Messages
170
Gender
Female
HSC
2012
Because it's a constant, and whenever you differntiate a constant it equals zero. e.g. differntiate 5 and you get zero.
 

ahdil33

Member
Joined
Feb 28, 2011
Messages
183
Gender
Male
HSC
2012
If you want something algebraic, imagine a constant, say 5, as actaully being 5(x)^0. Then when you begin taking the power and multiplying it by the function and subtracting the power by one, you end up multiplying by zero so it's 0. At least that's how I thought of it.
 

SpiralFlex

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2010
Messages
6,960
Gender
Female
HSC
N/A
A geometric interpretation of differentiation would make it understandable.
 

cutemouse

Account Closed
Joined
Apr 23, 2007
Messages
2,250
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
You lose a lot of low-level control by using Lyx.
Yes, and the whole idea of LaTeX is not WYSIWYG... defeats the purpose IMO.

I know old fashion people who just use a text editor for LaTeX and compile it at the command line... I prefer a LaTeX editor though...
 

Trebla

Administrator
Administrator
Joined
Feb 16, 2005
Messages
8,401
Gender
Male
HSC
2006
Far out I can't believe this thread is still going....
 

Shadowdude

Cult of Personality
Joined
Sep 19, 2009
Messages
12,145
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
I sincerely hope that nobody here believes that this statement makes any sense (assuming pi means what it usually does).
It makes perfect sense though. It's equivalent to say:




Moral of the story is you have to specify what you're differentiating with respect to :p
 

braintic

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2011
Messages
2,137
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
It makes perfect sense though. It's equivalent to say:




Moral of the story is you have to specify what you're differentiating with respect to :p
It makes ABSOLUTELY no sense.
You can only differentiate wrt a variable.
Does it make any sense to ask d/d1 (2) ?
In words "Find the rate at which 2 changes as 1 changes".

Surely you can see that this statement is total rubbish.

You can only differentiate wrt something that is actually free to change.
 

Shadowdude

Cult of Personality
Joined
Sep 19, 2009
Messages
12,145
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
It makes ABSOLUTELY no sense.
You can only differentiate wrt a variable.
Does it make any sense to ask d/d1 (2) ?
In words "Find the rate at which 2 changes as 1 changes".

Surely you can see that this statement is total rubbish.

You can only differentiate wrt something that is actually free to change.
If you define "1" as a variable, then yes. But that's just a silly example. Pi, as said before, can represent a function or be a variable - so there are situations when it is "legal" to differentiate it - and not just a contrived example.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)

Top