Use the standard symbols for entering the four basic mathematical operators:

•        The plus operator, +, denotes addition.

•        The minus operator, −, denotes subtraction or negation.

•        The times operators, ⋅ and *, denote multiplication.

•        The quotient operator, /, denotes division.  Derive normally uses a built-up fraction to display quotients.


These binary infix operators are placed between their operands.  + and − are also unary prefix operators placed before their operand.


Use parentheses, ( ), to control the order in which operators are applied.  Brackets, [ ], and braces, {­ }, are not equivalent to parentheses and can not be used to control the order of application of operators or to enclose the arguments of functions.  Instead, brackets are used for entering vectors and matrices.  Braces are used for entering sets.


* and / have a higher operator precedence than + and −.  In the absence of parentheses, operators with higher precedence are applied before operators with lower precedence.  For example, entering 3 + 4 * 5 is equivalent to 3 + (4 * 5) rather than (3 + 4) * 5.


+ and − have equal precedence, as do * and /.  In the absence of parentheses, operators with equal precedence are applied left to right.  For example, entering 1 / 2 * 3 is equivalent to (1 / 2) * 3 rather than 1 / (2 * 3).


Instead of using * to explicitly indicate multiplication, separating two expressions with one or more spaces and/or parentheses implicitly indicates multiplication.  For example, entering 2 (3 + 5) is equivalent to 2 * (3 + 5).


Sometimes books print rational numbers as an integer followed by the fractional part.  For example, 3.5 is printed as 3 1/2.  This is short for 3 plus 1/2, not 3 times 1/2.  In Derive, use the + operator between the integer and fractional part of a number to prevent it from being interpreted as implicit multiplication.  For example, enter 3 1/2 − 2 1/4 as (3+1/2) − (2+1/4).

•        ^ (exponentiation  operator) is used to denote exponentiation  (raising an expression to a power).  Derive normally uses a raised exponent to indicate exponentiation.


The exponentiation operator is a binary infix operator that is placed between its operands.  On most keyboards "^" is entered by pressing "6" while holding down the shift key.  For example, 3 squared (i.e. 3²) is entered as 3^2.


^ has a higher precedence than +, −, *, and /.  Thus operands of ^ that include these operators should be enclosed in parentheses.  For example, the cube root of 9 (i.e. 9 to the 1/3 power) must be entered as 9^(1/3) rather than 9^1/3.


Unlike other operators, ^ associates to the right.  Thus in the absence of parentheses, successive ^ operators are applied right to left.  For example, entering 4^3^2 is equivalent to 4^(3^2) rather than (4^3)^2.


The ^ operator can also be used to enter numbers in scientific notation.  For example, the number 6.02  times 10 to the 23rd can be entered as 6.02 * 10^23.

•        % (percent operator) is used to denote percentage (one hundredth of an expression).


This postfix operator is placed after its operand.  For example, 22% + 36% is equal to 0.58.


The % operator has a higher precedence than any of the operators discussed above.


Other Built-in Functions and ConstantsBuilt_in_Functions_and_Constants 

Created with the Personal Edition of HelpNDoc: Full-featured EBook editor