Differentials - Oregon State University The intuitive idea behind differentials is to consider the small quantities “ \(dy\) ” and “ \(dx\) ” separately, with the derivative \(\frac{dy}{dx}\) denoting their relative rate of change So rather than either of the traditional expressions for derivatives (see Section 7 2), if \(y=x^2\) we write
Session 36: Differentials | Single Variable Calculus . . . The derivative dy dx can be thought of as a ratio of differentials Using differentials will make our calculations simpler; here we see how they can be used to compute linear approximations Lecture Video and Notes