Dot derivative (v̇) in LaTeX

The Dot derivative is represented by a dot or multiple dots over a letter in Mathematics. I will show you how to write dot derivatives in LaTeX with multiple methods in this tutorial.

LaTeX provides a default command \dot{} to get one dot over a letter and \ddot{} to get two dots over a letter.

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}

  $$ \verb|\dot{y}| : \dot{y} $$
  $$ \verb|\ddot{y}| : \ddot{y} $$

\end{document}

Output:

Get more than two dots over a letter

If want to get more than two dots over a letter, in this case, you have to use the amsmath package. This package provides \dddot{} to get three dots over a letter and \ddddot{} to get four dots over a letter. As many d as dots.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{document}

  $$ \verb|\dot{y}| : \dot{y} $$
  $$ \verb|\ddot{y}| : \ddot{y} $$
  $$ \verb|\dddot{y}| : \dddot{y} $$
  $$ \verb|\ddddot{y}| : \ddddot{y} $$

\end{document}

Output:

Get dots over a vector in LaTeX

In order to get a dot over a vector you can write like this \dot{\vec{y}}. And with the amsmath package you can get more dots over a vector.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{document}

  $$ \verb|\dot{\vec{y}}| : \dot{\vec{y}} $$
  $$ \verb|\ddot{\vec{y}}| : \ddot{\vec{y}} $$
  $$ \verb|\dddot{\vec{y}}| : \dddot{\vec{y}} $$
  $$ \verb|\ddddot{\vec{y}}| : \ddddot{\vec{y}} $$

\end{document}

Output:

You can also use the esvect package to get different styles of arrows over a letter. You can use different options (a, b, c,.. to ..,h) with this package to get different styles of arrows. Load this package with \usepackage[<option>]{esvect} and use this \vv{} command.

To know more details you can read this: How to write Position vector (arrow) in LaTeX?

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[b]{esvect}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{document}

  $$ \verb|\dot{\vv{y}}| : \dot{\vv{y}} $$
  $$ \verb|\ddot{\vv{y}}| : \ddot{\vv{y}} $$
  $$ \verb|\dddot{\vv{y}}| : \dddot{\vv{y}} $$
  $$ \verb|\ddddot{\vv{y}}| : \ddddot{\vv{y}} $$

\end{document}

Output: