# Dumb Derivatives Question

**URL:** <https://forum.kirupa.com/t/dumb-derivatives-question/231780>\
**Category:** random\
**Created:** [July 8, 2007, 1:22am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/dumb-derivatives-question/231780 "2007-07-08T01:22:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Al6200](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Al6200](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/Al6200)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2007, 1:22am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/dumb-derivatives-question/231780/1 "2007-07-08T01:22:07Z")

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If:

f(x) = (x^2)/2

does f '(x) =

2x or 2x - 2

My calculations say 2x, but shouldn’t the dividing by 2 impact the derivative??!?!?!? I mean, at every single point the derivative is some constant lower, so why not subtract 2?!?!?

In addition, does x have an anti-derivative???

If the derivative of x^2 is 2x…

I’m not currently taking a calculus class, but I’ve been reading books that require calculus and build off of it and I’m running into some road blocks. I’ll take calc next year 🙂