Differentiation — Syllabus
ICSE · Class 12 · Mathematics
What Differentiation covers in ICSE Class 12 Mathematics: 4 topics, for the 2026-27 session. Part of the ICSE Class 12 Mathematics syllabus.
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Topics in Differentiation
1. Core idea of derivative and first principle
- The derivative of a function at a point is found by the limit of the difference quotient as h tends to 0.
- Derivative can also be written as Df(x) or d/dx[f(x)].
- Differentiation from First Principle, delta method, and ab initio method are the same method.
2. Basic derivative rules and standard formulas
- The sum, difference, constant multiple, product, quotient, and power rules are fundamental.
- Rules for exponential, logarithmic, and trigonometric functions must be memorised and applied carefully.
- Rule 5 gives derivative of log F as (d/dx F)/F.
3. Implicit differentiation and related working rule
- An implicit function is defined by a relation f(x,y)=0 rather than by y alone.
- Differentiate both sides with respect to x.
- Bring all dy/dx terms to the left side and all other terms to the right side.
4. Second order derivatives
- The second derivative is the derivative of the first derivative.
- First order derivative can be written as f'(x), dy/dx, y1, y', or Dy.
- Second order derivative can be written as f''(x), d^2y/dx^2, y2, y'', or D^2y.
Key Concepts
Central concept: Differentiation as the study of finding derivatives of functions and using them through basic rules, chain rule, implicit differentiation, logarithmic differentiation, inverse trigonometric differentiation, parametric form, derivative w.r.t. another function, and determinants
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