In mathematics, the differential coefficient of a function f(x) is what is now called its derivative df(x)/dx, the (not necessarily constant) multiplicative factor or coefficient of the differential dx in the differential df(x).
A coefficient is usually a constant quantity, but the differential coefficient of f is a constant function only if f is a linear function. When f is not lineive#Differen, hence, the modern term, derivative.
Early editions of Silvanus P. Thompson's Calculus Made Easy use the older term. Martin Gardner lets the first use of "differential coefficient" stand, along with Thompson's criticism of the term as a needlessly obscure phrase that should not intimidate students, and substitutes "derivative" for the remainder of the book.
Famous quotes containing the word differential:
“But how is one to make a scientist understand that there is something unalterably deranged about differential calculus, quantum theory, or the obscene and so inanely liturgical ordeals of the precession of the equinoxes.”
—Antonin Artaud (1896–1948)