Leibniz's notation

In calculus, Leibniz's notation, named in honor of the 17th-century German philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, uses the symbols dx and dy to represent infinitely small (or infinitesimal) increments of x and y, respectively, just as Δx and Δy represent finite increments of x and y, respectively. Consider y as a function of a variable x, or y = f(x). If this is the case, then the derivative of y with respect to x, which later came to be viewed as the limit was, according to Leibniz, the quotient of an infinitesimal increment of y by an infinitesimal increment of x, or . ,

Leibniz's notation

In calculus, Leibniz's notation, named in honor of the 17th-century German philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, uses the symbols dx and dy to represent infinitely small (or infinitesimal) increments of x and y, respectively, just as Δx and Δy represent finite increments of x and y, respectively. Consider y as a function of a variable x, or y = f(x). If this is the case, then the derivative of y with respect to x, which later came to be viewed as the limit was, according to Leibniz, the quotient of an infinitesimal increment of y by an infinitesimal increment of x, or . ,