Lesson 32 of 48
Partial derivatives
Slope in one direction, while everything else holds still.
Real functions have many inputs, and a model has millions. The partial is how you ask about one of them in isolation — the per-parameter question that training answers over and over.
Do this
Compute both partial derivatives of a two-variable function by hand, then verify each numerically by nudging only that variable.
The question that unlocks the next lesson
Computing ∂f/∂x means doing what with the other variables?
- ASetting them to zero
- BTreating them as constants
- CDifferentiating them too and adding the results
- DAveraging over their range