Might anyone possibly be able to tell me WHAT a derivative is? I am learning how to find it and etc. but I don't exactly understand what they are used for? Real life applications?

Question

anonymous · Answer

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The derivative of a function is the equation that gives you the slope of the tangent lines.  If f is the function above, and a is a value on the x axis, and the point (a,f(a)) in on the graph, then f'(a), the derivative of f evaluated at a, is the slope of that tangent line that hits the graph at (a,f(a)).