In mathematics and, specifically, real analysis, the Dini derivatives (or Dini derivates) are a class of generalizations of the derivative. They were introduced by Ulisse Dini, who studied continuous but nondifferentiable functions.

The upper Dini derivative, which is also called an upper right-hand derivative, of a continuous function

${\displaystyle f:{\mathbb {R} }\rightarrow {\mathbb {R} },}$

is denoted by f′+ and defined by

${\displaystyle f'_{+}(t)=\limsup _{h\to {0+}}{\frac {f(t+h)-f(t)}{h}},}$

where lim sup is the supremum limit and the limit is a one-sided limit. The lower Dini derivative, f′−, is defined by

${\displaystyle f'_{-}(t)=\liminf _{h\to {0+}}{\frac {f(t)-f(t-h)}{h}},}$

where lim inf is the infimum limit.

If f is defined on a vector space, then the upper Dini derivative at t in the direction d is defined by

${\displaystyle f'_{+}(t,d)=\limsup _{h\to {0+}}{\frac {f(t+hd)-f(t)}{h}}.}$

If f is locally Lipschitz, then f′+ is finite. If f is differentiable at t, then the Dini derivative at t is the usual derivative at t.