differential

Meaning

Adj

1. Of or pertaining to a difference.
2. Dependent on, or making a difference; distinctive.
3. Having differences in speed or direction of motion.
4. Of or pertaining to differentiation or the differential calculus.

Noun

1. The differential gear in an automobile, etc.
2. A qualitative or quantitative difference between similar or comparable things.
3. One of two coils of conducting wire so related to one another or to a magnet or armature common to both, that one coil produces polar action contrary to that of the other.
4. A form of conductor used for dividing and distributing the current to a series of electric lamps so as to maintain equal action in all.
5. A quantity representing an infinitesimal change in a variable, now only used as a heuristic aid except in nonstandard analysis but considered rigorous until the 20th century; a fluxion in Newtonian calculus, now usually written in Leibniz's notation as operatorname d!x.
6. A function giving the change in the linear approximation of f at a point x over a small interval Δx or operatorname d!x, the function being called the differential of f and denoted operatorname d!f(x,Δx), operatorname d!f(x), or simply operatorname d!f.
7. A function giving the change in the linear approximation of f at a point x over a small interval Δx or operatorname d!x, the function being called the differential of f and denoted operatorname d!f(x,Δx), operatorname d!f(x), or simply operatorname d!f.
8. The Jacobian matrix of a function of several variables.
9. The pushforward or total derivative of ϕ: a linear map from the tangent space at a point x in ϕ's domain to the tangent space at ϕ(x) which is, in a technical sense, the best linear approximation of ϕ at x; denoted operatorname d!ϕₓ.
10. Any of several generalizations of the concept(s) above: e.g. the Kähler differential in the setting of schemes, the quadratic differential in the theory of Riemann surfaces, etc.

Synonyms

odd-lot differential

metallic mode

odd mode

normal mode

transverse

derived function

differential coefficient

derivative

first derivative

differential gear

differential-mode

symmetrical

different

differentiation

distinctive

varied

diverse

divisional

gap

line

mathematics

otherwise

partitive

separation

separative

spread

transmission

unalike

unequal

unlike

variable

variably

variation

various

varying

D

atypical

divorce

separationism

differential mechanism

differen-differential action

box of tricks

differential motion

difference

differential calculus

differing

discriminating

discriminative

discriminatory

disjunctive

Translations

différentiel

diferencial

diferencial

diferencial

differenziale

διαφορικό

diferansiyel

Differential

farklı

différentielle

διαφορικός

Pronounced as (IPA)

[dɪfəˈɹənʃəɫ]

Etymology

Morphologically different + -ial.