The
$n$
th quantum derivative
${\cal D}_nf(x)$
of the real-valued function
$f$
is defined for each real non-zero
$x$
as
\[
\lim_{q\to 1}\frac{\displaystyle\sum\limits^n_{k=0}(-1)^k\left[\begin{array}{c}n\\k\end{array}\right]_qq^{(k-1)k/2}f(q^{n-k}x)}{q^{(n-1)n/2}(q-1)^nx^n},
\]
where
$\left[\begin{array}{c}n\\k\end{array}\right]_q$
the
$q$
-binomial coefficient. If the
$n$
th Peano derivative exists at
$x$
, which is to say that if
$f$
can be approximated by an
$n$
th degree polynomial at the point
$x$
, then it is not hard to see that
${\cal D}_nf(x)$
must also exist at that point. Consideration of the function
$|1-x|$
at
$x=1$
shows that the second quantum derivative is more general than the second Peano derivative. However, it can be shown that the existence of the
$n$
th quantum derivative at each point of a set necessarily implies the existence of the
$n$
th Peano derivative at almost every point of that set.