Calculus Derivative Notation Posters

Introduce your students to the history of calculus with these free printable derivative notation posters including Leibniz’s d/dx notation, Lagrange’s prime notation, Euler’s operator notation, and Newton’s dot notation.

You might also be interested in seeing my other free printable math posters!

Derivative Notations

Over the years, I have created many different math posters for my own students. I decided I needed to upgrade my calculus poster game when I found that my calculus bulletin board was spending most of the school year empty.

I thought this would be a great way to highlight some math history of how the different notations for differentiation developed from different mathematicians exploring the newly-discovered field of calculus.

Leibniz’s d/dx Notation

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz created a notation for derivatives written as dy/dx, which shows how a change in y relates to a change in x. This notation highlights the idea of rate of change and helps students see which variable is changing and which variable it is changing with respect to.

Lagrange’s Prime Notation

Joseph-Louis Lagrange introduced prime notation for derivatives, writing the derivative of a function as f′(x). This notation shows that the function has been differentiated and works especially well for functions written in function notation.

Euler’s Operator Notation

Leonhard Euler used operator notation for derivatives, writing the derivative using the symbol D, such as Df or D(f). This notation emphasizes that differentiation acts like an operation applied to a function.

Newton’s Dot Notation

Isaac Newton introduced dot notation for derivatives, writing a dot above a variable such as ẏ to represent its derivative. This notation is commonly used when studying motion and physics because it shows how a quantity changes with respect to time.

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