Differential

The word differential has several related meaning in mathematics. In the most common context, it means "related to derivatives." So, for example, the portion of calculus dealing with taking derivatives (i.e., differentiation), is known as differential calculus.

The word "differential" also has a more technical meaning in the theory of differential k-forms as a so-called one-form.

See also

Differential Algebra, Differential Calculus, Differential k-Form, Exact Differential, Inexact Differential, One-Form

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Cite this as:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Differential." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Differential.html

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