Can I skip this page - Differentiation AS Pure Maths

This page looks really straight forward. It's just about drawing tangents to gradients...can I just skip this and move on. Or am I missing something here? This is from the edexcel text book:
Screenshot (271).png

Reply 1

Haywood1743

Original post by GogetaORvegito?

I think this is more of an introduction to tangents before differentiation so if you know and understand how both work and the relationship between the 2 then you definitely can.

Reply 2

GogetaORvegito?

Original post by Haywood1743

I think this is more of an introduction to tangents before differentiation so if you know and understand how both work and the relationship between the 2 then you definitely can.

Yeah the questions are not even actual exam questions. It's just to do with calculating the gradients and say what you notice about them. Thanks for the heads up :smile:

Reply 3

Muttley79

Original post by GogetaORvegito?

This page looks really straight forward. It's just about drawing tangents to gradients...can I just skip this and move on. Or am I missing something here? This is from the edexcel text book:

No - i the specification [which you need to download] it says: "differentiation from first principles for small positive integer powers .. page 26

https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/A%20Level/Mathematics/2017/specification-and-sample-assesment/a-level-l3-mathematics-specification-issue4.pdf

Reply 4

Muttley79

Original post by GogetaORvegito?

Yeah the questions are not even actual exam questions. It's just to do with calculating the gradients and say what you notice about them. Thanks for the heads up :smile:

This is on the spec

Reply 5

variableSix

I don't think the book is that great at explaining differentiation from first principle though, I would check out Eddie Woo's videos on that topic to understand it more easily

Original post by Muttley79

Reply 6

Muttley79

Original post by variableSix

I don't think the book is that great at explaining differentiation from first principle though, I would check out Eddie Woo's videos on that topic to understand it more easily

I think you have replied to the wrong poster :smile:

Reply 7

GogetaORvegito?

Original post by Muttley79

Oh but how is that to do with calculating gradients. The first principle is talked about in the next topic called "12.2 - Finding the derivative."

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 8

Muttley79

Original post by GogetaORvegito?

Oh but how is that to do with calculating gradients. The first principle is talked about on the next page which is a different topic called "Finding the derivative."

Look at the questions with h in it ... this is effectively differentiation from first principles or leading into it - it would not be in the book if you could ignore it! Differentiation is finding the gradient ...

Reply 9

DFranklin

Original post by GogetaORvegito?

Oh but how is that to do with calculating gradients. The first principle is talked about on the next page which is a different topic called "Finding the derivative." Look at the text book if you want more information file:///C:/AS%20Pure%20Maths/Edexcel%20AS%20and%20A%20level%20Mathematics%20Pure%20Mathematics%20Year%201AS%20Textbook%20+%20e-book%20by%20Various%20Authors%20(z-lib.org).pdf

The derivative is what you get if you calculate the limit as

h\to 0

of the gradient of the chord between (x, f(x)) and (x+h, f(x+h)).

The whole point of the example you linked in the first post is to illustrate the idea that if you take smaller and smaller values for 'h' in calculating your chord, the gradient settles down to a value representing the gradient of the curve.

Reply 10

GogetaORvegito?

Original post by Muttley79

I understand that the explanation is linked with this page but the questions I want to skip because they look so useless:
Screenshot (275).png

Reply 11

DFranklin

Original post by GogetaORvegito?

I understand that the explanation is linked with this page but the questions I want to skip because they look so useless:
Screenshot (275).png

It's not going to kill you to miss them if you insist. But if you can't see the relevance, that *is* concerning and indicates you're not as ready to skip them as you think.

I'll also note that you could have done all these examples in the time elapsed since your original post.

Reply 12

Muttley79

Original post by GogetaORvegito?

I understand that the explanation is linked with this page but the questions I want to skip because they look so useless:

You should understand this ...

[I teach Maths!]

Reply 13

GogetaORvegito?

Original post by DFranklin

What really?! Damn, I managed to do all the questions fine on the next topic but I guess I'm missing the point or something i'll do this then...

Reply 14

GogetaORvegito?

Original post by Muttley79

You should understand this ...

[I teach Maths!]

lol alright Ms Muttley79 as a student I shall heed the teachers words...

Reply 15

Muttley79

Original post by GogetaORvegito?

lol alright Ms Muttley79 as a student I shall heed the teachers words...

Seeing the spec should have been enough ...

Reply 16

GogetaORvegito?

Original post by Muttley79

Seeing the spec should have been enough ...

I didn’t know that’s what the spec meant. I thought it was just to understand the first principle which I do. But I shall be doing the questions, thanks again for the clarification :smile: