clearly, d/dx simplifies to 1/x
Look it is so simple, it just acts on an uncountably infinite dimensional vector space of differentiable functions.
fun fact: the vector space of differentiable functions (at least on compact domains) is actually of countable dimension.
still infinite though
Derivatives started making more sense to me after I started learning their practical applications in physics class.
d/dx
was too abstract when learning it in precalc, but once physics introducedd/dt
(change with respect to time t), it made derivative formulas feel more intuitive, like “velocity is the change in position with respect to time, which the derivative of position” and “acceleration is the change in velocity with respect to time, which is the derivative of velocity”Mathematicians will in one breath tell you they aren’t fractions, then in the next tell you dz/dx = dz/dy * dy/dx
It was a fraction in Leibniz’s original notation.
Software engineer: 🫦
It’s not even a fraction, you can just cancel out the two "d"s
"d"s nuts lmao
I found math in physics to have this really fun duality of “these are rigorous rules that must be followed” and “if we make a set of edge case assumptions, we can fit the square peg in the round hole”
Also I will always treat the derivative operator as a fraction
2+2 = 5
…for sufficiently large values of 2
Found the engineer
i was in a math class once where a physics major treated a particular variable as one because at csmic scale the value of the variable basically doesn’t matter. the math professor both was and wasn’t amused
Engineer. 2+2=5+/-1
Computer science: 2+2=4 (for integers at least; try this with floating point numbers at your own peril, you absolute fool)
0.1 + 0.2 = 0.30000000000000004