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If a function has more than one variable, say ${f(x,y,z)}$, we are able to take a partial derivative of the function in respect to one of its variable:
\begin{equation*}
{\frac{\partial f}{\partial x},\frac{\partial f}{\partial y},\normalsubformula{\text{etc}}}
\end{equation*}
Iterated as:
\begin{equation*}
{\frac{\partial f}{\partial x}=\underset{{h\rightarrow 0}}{{\text{lim}}}\frac{f(x+h,y)-f(x,y)}{h}}
\end{equation*}
\begin{equation*}{\frac{\partial f}{\partial y}=\underset{{h\rightarrow 0}}{{\text{lim}}}\frac{f(x,y+k)-f(x,y)}{k}}\end{equation*} , etc
Example
Find the first order partial derivatives for the function:
\begin{equation*}
{f(x,y)=x^{{5}}+4\sqrt{y}-\text{10}}
\end{equation*}
First take the derivate with respect to x treating all coefficients with a y as a constant. The partial derivative with respect to x is:
\begin{equation*}
{\frac{\partial f}{\partial x}=5x^{{4}}}
\end{equation*}
Take note that the second and third terms in the equation differentiate to zero when the partial derivate with respectto x is taken, so they are eliminated.
The next step is to take the partial derivative with respect to y while treating all the coefficients with an x as a constant. The partial derivative with respect to y is:
\begin{equation*}
{\frac{\partial f}{\partial y}=\frac{2}{\sqrt{y}}}
\end{equation*}