Derivation

Derivation may refer to:

Language

 * Morphological derivation, a word-formation process
 * Parse tree or concrete syntax tree, representing a string's syntax in formal grammars

Law

 * Derivative work, in copyright law
 * Derivation proceeding, a proceeding in United States patent law

Music

 * The creation of a derived row, in the twelve-tone musical technique

Science and mathematics

 * Derivation (differential algebra), a unary function satisfying the Leibniz product law
 * Formal proof or derivation, a sequence of sentences each of which is an axiom or follows from the preceding sentences in the sequence by a rule of inference
 * An after-the-fact justification for an action, in the work of sociologist Vilfredo Pareto