[sdiy] Can we declare the math/language thread done?

[Aaron Lanterman]

On Sep 25, 2009, at 6:54 PM, Scott Gravenhorst wrote:

> PRIVATE REPLY:
>
> Aaron Lanterman <lanterma at ece.gatech.edu> wrote:
>> It was interesting for a while, but it's kind of played out.
>>
>> Anyone have something SDIY related to say?
>
> Ah, well eventually, yes.  Here's my embarassing question:
>
> What is:
>
> sin(a x)
>
> ?
>
> I know a sine function is something with one input and one output like
> y=sin(x).  I'm guessing this notation still implies the same thing,  
> but
> what is the 'a x' term?  (or was it 'x a'...)?

Traditionally in something like an integral or derivative table, "a"  
stands for a constant (4, 3.14, 6.02E23), an "x" stands for the  
variable you are taking the derivative or integral with respect to

So d/dx sin(a x) = a cos(a x).

- Aaron