Notation

What Do dx and dy Mean?

We’ve looked at the meaning of the derivative, and of its various notations, including dy/dx. This leads to the next question: What does dx or dy mean on its own? This was touched on last time, but there’s a lot more to say that I couldn’t fit there. We’ll look at more advanced approaches to …

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What Derivative Notations Mean

Last week we looked at the meaning of the derivative. In doing so, we mostly used the notation “”, but mentioned another in passing. Here I want to look at our answers to several questions about the different notations you will see. Several different notations We’ll start with this question from 2013: Differences in Differentiation …

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Decimals, Commas, Thousands, and Lakhs

I’ll finish this series on place value and writing numbers, with a question that’s not quite as simple as you might think: why we use commas and decimal points as we do. Americans may be surprised at some of the answers – and some of the questions.

Decimals in Word Form: Basics

We’ve been looking at the place value concept, and writing number in expanded form(s); but how about the word form of decimals? This can be confusing at several points. We’ll start with reading a number and writing its word form, and then do the reverse. Reading decimals: the basics We’ll start with this, from 1997: …

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What is Expanded Form?

A concept regularly taught along with place value is “expanded form”, a way to write a number that displays each place separately. As we’ll see, there is considerable variation in terminology here, so parents may have to check what form a teacher wants, rather than look it up and expect a single answer! Whole numbers …

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Place Value: Decimals

Last time we looked at the concept of place value as children first learn it, with whole numbers. Here, we’ll expand that to look at decimals. What do we mean by decimal? First, we need to deal with what the word means, because it is used ambiguously. Here is a question from 2004: Defining Decimal …

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