Differentiation from first principles resources
Motivating Mathematics (2)

This mathtutor extension discusses how mathematical modelling using differentiation may be used to determine optimum delivery sizes. This resource is released under a Creative Commons license Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works and the copyright is held by Skillbank Solutions Ltd.

This mathtutor extension describes the effect of resonance on bridges and how differential equations may be used to calculate the effects. This resource is released under a Creative Commons license Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works and the copyright is held by Skillbank Solutions Ltd.
Quick Reference (2)

This leaflet provides a rough and ready introduction to differentiation. This is a technique used to calculate the gradient, or slope, of a graph at different points.

This leaflet provides a rough and ready introduction to differentiation and gives some common terminology and notation. (Engineering Maths First Aid Kit 8.1) There is an accompanying podcast.
Teach Yourself (4)

After reading this text, and/or viewing the video tutorial on this topic,
you should be able to
differentiate the functions sin(x)and cos(x) from first principles.

After reading this text, and/or viewing
the video tutorial on this topic, you should be able to
understand the process involved in differentiating from first principles and
differentiate some simple functions from first principles.

This unit looks at some basic differentiation from first principles, and in particular how to differentiate powers of x.

In this unit the natural logarithm function and the exponential function are differentiated from first principles.
Third Party Resources (2)

Support material from the University of Plymouth:
The output from this project is a library of portable, interactive, web based support packages to help students learn various mathematical ideas and techniques and to support classroom teaching.
There are support materials on ALGEBRA, GRAPHS, CALCULUS, and much more.
This material is offered through the mathcentre site courtesy of Dr Martin Lavelle and Dr Robin Horan from the University of Plymouth.
The output from this project is a library of portable, interactive, web based support packages to help students learn various mathematical ideas and techniques and to support classroom teaching.
There are support materials on ALGEBRA, GRAPHS, CALCULUS, and much more.
This material is offered through the mathcentre site courtesy of Dr Martin Lavelle and Dr Robin Horan from the University of Plymouth.

The Learning Enhancement Team at the University of East Anglia (UEA) has developed la series of interactive resources accessible via Prezi mind maps : Steps into Numeracy, Steps into Algebra, Steps into Trigonometry, Bridging between Algebra and Calculus, Steps into Calculus, Steps into Differential Equations, Steps into Statistics and Other Essential Skills.
Video (5)

In this unit we show how to differentiate the sine and cosine functions
from first principles. (Mathtutor Video Tutorial).
This resource is released under a Creative Commons license Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works and the copyright is held by Skillbank Solutions Ltd.

In this unit we start to explain how differentiation works. The process is known as differentiation from first principles.
(Mathtutor Video Tutorials)
This resource is released under a Creative Commons license Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works and the copyright is held by Skillbank Solutions Ltd.

In this unit we explain how to differentiate powers of x from first principles. (Mathtutor Video Tutorials)
This resource is released under a Creative Commons license Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works and the copyright is held by Skillbank Solutions Ltd.

This unit gives details of how logarithmic functions and exponential functions are differentiated from first principles. (Mathtutor Video Tutorials)
This resource is released under a Creative Commons license Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works and the copyright is held by Skillbank Solutions Ltd.

Podcast to accompany the Quick Reference Engineering Maths First Aid Kit leaflet 'Introduction to differentiation 8.1' submitted under Creative Commons Licence BY-NC-SA to the mathcentre Community Project by Ciaran Mac an Bhaird, National University of Ireland Maynooth and reviewed by Ann O'Shea, National University of Ireland Maynooth.
Video with captions (2)

In this unit we start to explain how differentiation works. The process is known as differentiation from first principles. (Mathtutor Video Tutorials) The video is released under a Creative Commons license Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works and the copyright is held by Skillbank Solutions Ltd.

In this unit we explain how to differentiate powers of x from first principles. (Mathtutor Video Tutorials)
The video is released under a Creative Commons license Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works and the copyright is held by Skillbank Solutions Ltd.