When the action is: Taking the derivative
what verb should be used?
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to differentiate
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to derive
I feel that deriving is not the correct word here. In my mind it's more a synonym of deducing. Am I right or has the word derive got the same meaning as differentiate? Or perhaps differentiate is not a proper English word…? If so, can anyone name a book or article where the writer(s) (preferably native English speaker(s)) use the word derive to mean differentiate? Or should we always stick to saying: "Take the derivative of…"?
Edit: So from what I can tell, the phrase: "Derive a method for differentiating this function and write down the resulting derivative.", can only have one meaning. XD
Best Answer
In English, I've almost always heard mathematicians say "We now differentiate $f$ to get ...". Occasionally I've heard "derive," but in English (my native language!), that's generally used to mean "work out", as in "Ralph couldn't derive a proof of the intermediate value theorem from the information he had at hand." It's also used in generating one thing from others, as in "We can now derive the half-angle formulas from the addition formula by a clever substitution."