Derivation may refer to:
- Derivation (abstract algebra), a function on an algebra which generalizes certain features of the derivative operator
- Derivation (linguistics) - Derivation in 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
- Parse tree or concrete syntax tree, a tree that represents the syntactic structure of a string according to some formal grammar
- The creation of a derived row, in the twelve-tone musical technique
- An after-the-fact justification for an action, in the work of sociologist Vilfredo Pareto
