Is y'(x) a Valid Notation for a Derivative Function?

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This is just me being pedantic :)
 
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Dramacon said:
This is just me being pedantic :)
I don't see anything wrong with it.
 
Dramacon said:
This is just me being pedantic :)

Acceptable notation for what?
 
Dick said:
Acceptable notation for what?
That thought occurred to me as well.
 
Unclear. What is y ? What is y(x) ? What is y'(x)?

The apostrophe mark may mean either, "the other specified...", or it may mean, "first derivative of...".

If you are giving your function the variable name of y(x), then most likely one would use y'(x) to mean, the first derivative of y(x) with respect to x.
 
I don't see anything wrong with y'(x), but I guess it depends on whether you had something non-standard in mind.

symbolipoint said:
If you are giving your function the variable name of y(x),
I have never been a fan of calling y(x) a function. y is the function. y(x) is a number in the range of y. y' is the derivative of y. y'(x) is the value of y' at x, and also the derivative of y at x.
 
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There are two things I don't understand about this problem. First, when finding the nth root of a number, there should in theory be n solutions. However, the formula produces n+1 roots. Here is how. The first root is simply ##\left(r\right)^{\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)}##. Then you multiply this first root by n additional expressions given by the formula, as you go through k=0,1,...n-1. So you end up with n+1 roots, which cannot be correct. Let me illustrate what I mean. For this...
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