Section Summary

In this section we extended the fundamental formula

from linear to more general functions. This led us to the concept of average rate of change and then to the notion of a difference quotient. The difference quotient is the ratio of the change in the dependent variable to the corresponding change in the independent variable. Using the $\Delta$-notation for differences, if $s=f\left(t\right)$, then the ratio of the change in the dependent variable \(s\) to the change in the independent variable \(t\) is the difference quotient