The Differential

In calculus, the differential represents the

principal part of the change in a function
y = f(x) with respect to changes in the
independent variable. The differential dy
is defined by where is the derivative of f
with respect to x, and dx is an additional
real variable.
 Differential Equations
A Differential Equation is an equation with a function and
one or more of its derivatives:

Example: an equation with the function 𝑦 and its

𝒅𝒚
derivative 𝒅𝒙
 Solving

We solve it when we discover the function y (or set of

functions y).
There are many "tricks" to solving Differential Equations
(if they can be solved!).

But first: why?

 Why Are Differential Equations Useful?

In our world things change, and describing how they

change often ends up as a Differential Equation:

EXAMPLE : RABBITS !
The more rabbits we have the more baby rabbits we get. Then those rabbits will grow
up and have babies too. The population will grow faster and faster.
The important parts of this are :
• The population of N at any time t
• The growth rate r
𝑑
• The populations rate of change 𝑑𝑡N

Let us imagine some actual values:

• The population N is 1000
• The growth rate r is 0.01 new rabbits per week for every current rabbit

𝑑
The populations rate of change 𝑑𝑡
N is then 1000×1.01 = 10 new rabbits per week.
But that is only true at a specific time, and doesn’t include that the population is
currently increasing.
Remember: the bigger the population the more rabbits we get!
So it is better to say the rate of change (at any instant) is the growth
rate times the population at that instant:
𝑑𝑁
= 𝑟𝑁
𝑑𝑡
And that is a Differential Equation, because it has a function N(t) and its
derivative.
 𝑑𝑦 𝑑
We wrote and 𝑓′(𝑥) to mean the same thing. We used as an
𝑑𝑥 𝑑𝑥
operator.
Differentials are infinitely small quantities. We usually write differentials
as 𝑑𝑥 , 𝑑𝑦, 𝑑𝑡 and so on where:

𝑑𝑥 is an infinitely small change in 𝑥;

𝑑𝑦 is an infinitely small change in 𝑦; and
𝑑𝑡 is an infinitely small change in 𝑡.

When comparing small changes in quantities that are related to each

other (like in the case where 𝑦 is some function of 𝑥 , we say the
differential 𝑑𝑦, of 𝑦 = 𝑓(𝑥) is written:

𝑑𝑦 = 𝑓 ′ 𝑥 𝑑𝑥
 𝑑𝑦
We are now treating more like a fraction (where we can manipulate
𝑑𝑥
the parts separately), rather than as an operator.

EXAMPLE 1:
Find the differential 𝑑𝑦 of the function 𝑦 = 3𝑥 5 − 𝑥.
Here 𝑦 = 3𝑥 5 − 𝑥, so 𝑓′(𝑥)=15𝑥 4 −1.
So the differential is given by:
𝑑𝑦 = 𝑓 ′ 𝑥 𝑑𝑥
=(15𝑥 4 − 1)𝑑𝑥
To find the differential 𝑑𝑦, we just need to find the derivative and write
it with 𝑑𝑥 on the right.
EXAMPLE 2:

Find the differential 𝑑𝑦 of the function 𝑦 = 5𝑥 2 −4𝑥 + 2.

Since 𝑦 = 5𝑥 2 −4𝑥 + 2, then 𝑓 ′ 𝑥 = 10𝑥 − 4
So the differential is given by:
𝑑𝑦 = 10𝑥 − 4 𝑑𝑥
EXAMPLE 3:
𝑓 𝑥 = 3𝑥 2 + 1
Solution:
Differentiating both sides, we get, 𝑓 ′ 𝑥 = 6𝑥 − 2, where 𝑓′(𝑥) is the
derivative of 𝑓(𝑥).
EXAMPLE 4:
𝑓 𝑥 = 𝑥3
Solution:
𝑑(𝑥 𝑛 )
We know, = 𝑛 𝑥 𝑛−1
𝑑𝑥
𝑑𝑥 3
Therefore, 𝑓′ 𝑥 = 𝑑𝑥
𝑓 ′ 𝑥 = 3𝑥 3−1
𝑓 ′ 𝑥 = 3𝑥 2