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(2) OPTIMIZATION: Understanding the Importance of Derivatives
Understanding Derivatives and applying concepts with Sympy
We have seen in the previous article that optimization from the mathematical point of view is the process to find the minima of a function.
In this article we will understand what first order and second order derivatives tell us about a function and how to compute first order and second order derivatives (univariate functions) using the Python library Sympy.
First Order Derivative
The first order derivative of a function is the rate of change of the function at any given point. It tell us how much the value of the function is changing as we move along the x-axis, and whether the function is increasing or decreasing at that point.
If the first order derivative of a function is positive at a point, it means that the function is increasing, if it negative, the function is decreasing. If the first order derivative is zero at a given point, it means that the function has…
