ABSTRACT
This chapter explores to what extent we can generalize the techniques of differentiation to functions of a single variable to functions of several variables. The chapter helps the reader to use the language and standard notation for functions of several variables, and obtain first-order and second-order partial derivatives. It also assists the reader in using the formulas for a change of variables correctly and calculating an estimate of accuracy in using a formula where the variables have known errors. It was a great asset when considering functions of a single variable to be able to draw the graph of the function. Here things are not quite so simple because in order to give a similar geometrical representation we shall need three axes OxOy and Oz.
