Basic "computation" formulas : Next, let's take a quick look at some basic "computation" formulas that will let us to actually compute some derivatives.
Formulas
1) If f ( x ) = c then f ′ ( x ) = 0 Or d (c )/ dx = 0
The derivative of a constant is zero.
2) If f ( x ) = xn then f ′ ( x ) = nxn -1 OR d ( xn ) = nxn -1 , n is any number.
Sometimes this formula is called the power rule. Here all we are doing is bringing the original exponent down in front & multiplying and then subtracting one from the original exponent.
Note that to use this formula n has to be a number, it can't be a variable. Also note that the base, the x, has to be a variable, it can't be a number.
These are the only properties & formulas which we'll give in this section. Let's calculate some derivatives using these properties.