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For example, could I write something like the following? $$f'(x) = \frac{d}{dx}x^2$$

Since Lagrange's notation and Leibniz's notation end up meaning the same thing, I wondered if this is generally considered to be good form.

user182601
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Jack Pan
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    Yes of course you can. A precision: notation f'(x) is not Newton's. It has been defined many years after the death of Newton, I think by Euler (to be checked) circa 1750. Newton uses dots over the quantities he derives (with respect to time in general). – Jean Marie Jan 08 '17 at 02:34
  • @JeanMarie Thanks for the heads up. Is there a need to change the question, by the way? (Happy belated NY's!) – Jack Pan Jan 08 '17 at 02:38
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    It is not of fundamental importance now, but historically, there has been a big conflict between Newton and Leibniz (the man of d/dx) co-inventors of differential calculus, not that much about notations but about the underlying concepts. Btw: Happy new year to you too! – Jean Marie Jan 08 '17 at 02:42
  • @Max Li : Please the question I had asked http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/1966777/newton-vs-leibniz-notation –  Jan 08 '17 at 02:58
  • @JeanMarie: $f^\prime$ is Lagrange, $\dot f$ is Newton, $\frac{\mathrm d}{\mathrm d x} f$ is Leibniz, $Df$ is sometimes called Euler's notation but may have been first used by Arbogast (related Qs: 1, 2).

    See Wikipedia, Cajori (1923), Jeff Miller's "Earliest Uses of Symbols of Calculus".

     – user182601 Feb 04 '24 at 02:33
  • @user182601 Thanks for the precisions and references. History of mathematics is also the history of its notations... – Jean Marie Feb 04 '24 at 09:15

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