I may have misinterpreted the meaning of:I don't think he is wanting to do numeric estimation of the derivative. But even if he is, setting the delta to that value is inviting disaster. If x is greater than 1 then you will get zero for the numerator.
"...that compute the derivative of a polynomial function", and
"... I am also trying to look at the analytical method that compute the derivative of a function."
It is easy to conflate analytical with numerical on the first reading pass given the context.
It depends on how you perform the operations, and how many significant digits the algorithms use for computation versus displaying results. What makes you think this is a problem? Can you show an example? My spreadsheet is just fine with the method using values of x greater than 1. It is also true that real polynomials with positive integral coefficients diverge to ±∞, but that is the same concern regardless of the method you use to compute the value of the derivative.
Last edited: