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It depends on the problem. For integration, you can just derive. For infinitely many other problems... verification is way harder.
by jfkebwjsbx 6y ago
It depends on the problem.
For integration, you can just derive.
For infinitely many other problems... verification is way harder.
- empath75 6y agois it usually the case that derivatives are easier to compute than integrals?
- danbruc 6y agoThe general algorithm for calculating integrals [1] is rather complex and I guess not suitable for humans so that calculating integrals sometimes looks much more like a black art then calculating derivatives does. On the other hand one could argue that there are algorithms for doing both and so there is no real difference. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risch_algorithm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risch_algorithm
- abstrakraft 6y agoYes. Most of the time, the reason is that there is a general form for computing derivatives of products ((xy)' = x'y + xy') and composite functions (chain rule) while no such general rules exist for integrals.
- kccqzy 6y agoSymbolically, yes that's almost always the case. Numerically it's the other way around.
- 6gvONxR4sf7o 6y agoEven for integrals, derivation isn't a silver bullet. You need to derive and also test for equality. Determining whether two expressions are the same (or enough the same, like a being the same as a^2/a except for a=0) can be really hard.
- AlexCoventry 6y agoCan't you just check numerical equality at a few million random points?