High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! In mathematics, the covariant derivative is a way of specifying a derivative along tangent vectors of a manifold. Alternatively, the covariant derivative is a way of introducing and working with a connection on a manifold by means of a differential operator, to be contrasted with the approach given by a principal connection on the frame bundle – see affine connection. In the special case of a manifold isometrically embedded into a higher dimensional Euclidean space, the covariant derivative can be viewed as the orthonormal projection of the Euclidean derivative along a tangent vector onto the manifold`s tangent space. In this case the Euclidean derivative is broken into two parts, the extrinsic normal component and the intrinsic covariant derivative component.