Apostrophe Symbol

U+0027

`

The ' (apostrophe) symbol has various uses in mathematics. One of its most common uses is to denote the derivative of a function in calculus. For example:

Here, represents the derivative of the function with respect to . That being said, this site’s preferred derivative notation is shown here.

In set theory, the apostrophe is used to denote the complement of a set. For instance:

Here, refers to the complement of the set A.

Double Quote | Symbol

The " (double quote) symbol is used in computing to represent the start and end of a string of characters.

Backtick | Symbol

The backtick, `, is a punctuation mark used mainly in computing and programming.

Prime | Symbol

The prime symbol is used to denote the derivative of a function.

Derivative Notation

The first derivative of a function is denoted by an apostrophe after the function name. Alternatively, the partial symbol can be used to represent the derivative with respect to a variable.