Inspiration

I wanted to find a project that I (only knowing the basics of Python) would be able to complete in 24 hours and I wanted it to have some practical application to my life.

What it does

Currently, my program is capable of calculating the derivative of polynomial functions as well as using product and quotient rule where appropriate. However, I have designed my project to facilitate further development.

How I built it

I started from the ground up; the most basic unit of something that can be differentiated is a monomial, or something of the format ax^b. After making this data type, I designed the process for differentiating it then continued that process; defining the next data type then defining how to differentiate it.

Challenges I ran into

While the basic elements are easier to make sense of, trying to do something advanced like execute product rule simply given an input string and told to differentiate is a tough task. The most difficult part was isolating the individual pieces of the expression that i was trying to operate on.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

One of my proudest moments working on this project was when I finally got quotient rule to work. This is one of the more difficult differentiations to perform and at the start of the project I was not certain I'd be capable of completing it.

What I learned

With enough hard work and dedication, I can accomplish more than I originally thought I could.

What's next for Derivative Calculator

The greatest part about this project is the room for growth. Over the rest of this semester/year, I plan to continue to add utility to the Derivative Calculator, operating on more complex functions and allowing for more complex differentiations (such as implicit differentiation)