What Is a Differential Equation? - Expii

An ordinary differential equation (often shortened as differential equation or ODE) relates a function with its derivatives and single independent variable. Some simple examples are \(f'(x) = 0\) and \(dy/dt = y\). (When there's more than one independent variable, we get partial differentiation equations, which are beyond the scope of AP Calculus.) Later, we'll see how and when to model situations using differential equations.