WHAT TO DO WITH CONSTANTS
27
Then:
.
Neglecting the small quantities of higher orders, this becomes
.
Subtract the original
, and we have left:
.
.
So the
has quite disappeared. It added nothing to the growth of
, and does not enter into the differential coefficient. If we had put
, or
, or any other number, instead of
, it would have disappeared. So if we take the letter
, or
, or
to represent any constant, it will simply disappear when we differentiate.
If the additional constant had been of negative value, such as
or
, it would equally have disappeared.
Multiplied Constants.
Take as a simple experiment this case:
Let
.
Then on proceeding as before we get:
.
Then, subtracting the original
, and neglecting the last term, we have
.
.