# Dot derivative(v̇) in LaTeX.

A dot derivative is denoted by a dot or more than one dot on a letter in mathematics. It is very easy to write in LaTeX, you need to use \dot{v} command for a single dot and \ddot{v} command for double dot on the letter. And these are the default commands of LaTeX.

Symbol Dot derivative
Type of symbol Dot
Package (requirement) No
Argument Yes
Latex command \dot{v}
Example \dot{v} → v̇
\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
$$\dot{v}$$
$$\ddot{v}$$
$$\dot{v} + v =\cos(\dot{v})$$
$$\ddot{v} + v =\cos(\dot{v})$$
\end{document}

Output :

You will also need the amsmath package if you want to use more dots on the letter, you can use the \dddot{v} and \ddddot{v} commands included in this package. If you look at the latex commands, you will understand that as many dots as “d” has been used.

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
$$\dddot{v}$$
$$\ddddot{v}$$
$$\dddot{v} + v =\cos(\dot{v})$$
$$\ddddot{v} + v =\cos(\dot{v})$$
\end{document}

Output :

## Dot notation for derivative of a vector in LaTeX

To denote the vector dot derivative you need to use \vec{v} as an argument in the \dot{arg} command like \dot{\vec{v}}. The \vec{arg} command is used to denote vectors in latex and it’s a default command of latex.

You can also use the \vv{arg} command in the esvect package instead of the \vec{arg} command. This will make the arrow symbol at the top of the letter look more professional and you can use any one of the optional arguments a, b, c … h with the esvect package to print the arrow as you like. Like \usepackage[b]{esvect}, that’s why I recommend it.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[c]{esvect}
\begin{document}
% Use \vec{•} command
$$\vec{v}, \dot{\vec{v}}, \ddot{\vec{v}}, \dot{\vec{r}}$$
$$\vec{r}=\frac{1}{2}\dot{\vec{v}}t^2 + \vec{v}t$$
% Use esvect package's \vv{•} command
$$\texttt{Output using esvect package} \downarrow$$
$$\vv{v}, \dot{\vv{v}}, \ddot{\vv{v}}, \dot{\vv{r}}$$
$$\vv{r}=\frac{1}{2}\dot{\vv{v}}t^2 + \vv{v}t$$
\end{document}

Output :