4 ms·
I don't think there's any obscurity; this is high school calculus. If the rate of change (first derivative, negative in this case) is slowing, that means the se
by mattyb 17y ago
I don't think there's any obscurity; this is high school calculus. If the rate of change (first derivative, negative in this case) is slowing, that means the second derivative is positive here. I'm not yet convinced this is a sign of things to come, however; there are five inflection points in his table where the rate of loss improves.
- mustpax 17y agoI'm not saying the terminology is wrong or anything like that. I'm just saying 'deceleration' is a more concise and comprehensible way of talking about changes in the second derivative. You might be surprised how little high school calculus most people have retained.
- joetrumpet 17y agoOr how little high school calculus people have taken. At my high school not even precalculus was a requirement. Of a graduating class of around 300, I'd say 30-45 students had taken a calculus course. I agree that acceleration would be a much clearer term.
- byrneseyeview 17y agoI understood what people meant by "the second derivative" before I'd taken any calculus. It's intuitive; you hear it in context once and you get it.