Tangent Line

Chapter 2 The Derivative

2.1 Tangent line

2.2 Differentiation rules

Study time at home is a time to be with my family.

A family that studies together stays together.

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Chapter 2 The Derivative

2.1 Tangent Line

At the end of this section, students are expected to:
a. illustrate the line tangent to the graph of a function at a point;
b. relate the derivative of a function at a point to the slope of the tan-
gent line to the curve at the point;
c. find the derivative of a function at a point using limits and slope of
tangent lines;
d. relate differentiability with continuity of a function.

The derivative, in general, measures rates of change. In physics for ex-

ample, the rate of change in distance over change in time is speed or velocity,
and the rate of change in velocity over change in time is acceleration. In ther-
modynamics, engineers measure the rate of change in temperature over time as
this affects the functioning of engines and machines. We can also speak of a
persons rate of growth in height or weight. The derivative is a concept which
has applications in many fields of knowledge: physics, economics, biology,
finance, population studies, etc.

By now, you must already be familiar with graphs as we had sketched a

lot of them in this course. The derivative, graphically speaking, is the measure
of the steepness of a curve at a particular point. If the curve is a line, then the de-
rivative is simply the slope of the line. But how do you obtain the slope of curve
at a point when the curve is not a straight line? We shall begin this chapter by
reviewing slope of lines, slope of secant lines, and finally the slope of a tangent
line to a curve.

SLOPE OF A STRAIGHT LINE

Given a non-vertical straight line in the form y mx b , the value of m
is the slope of the line. If x1, y1 and x2 , y2 the slope is computed as follows:

y2 y1 y
m
x2 x2 x

What do we know about lines and their slopes?

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 Tangent line

Parallel lines have equal slopes.

If L1 and L2 are non-vertical perpendicular lines with slopes m1 and

m2 , then m1 m2 1 .

A horizontal line has slope m 0 .

If m 0 , the more positive is m the steeper is the ascent of the

line.

If m 0 , the more negative is m the steeper is the descent of the

line.

Example 2.1 Finding the slope of a line

Find the slope of the line given by 5x 2 y 6 .

Solution

5x 2 y 6 y 52 x 3

Slope is m 52 .

Example 2.2 Finding the equation of a line (slope-point form)

a. Find the equation of a line that passes through 53 , 6 with slope m 3 .

b. Find the equation of a line parallel to 3x y 7 and which passes through
1, 5 .
Solution

a.
5
y 6 3 x y y1 mx x1
3

b. 3x y 7 m 3

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Chapter 2 The Derivative

y 5 3x 1

Secant line

We are now moving forward to the concept of the derivative. We begin

by showing how the slope of tangent line can be estimated using secant lines.
Given a curve, a line that passes through two points along the curve is a secant
line. Suppose we are interested to know the slope of the line tangent to the
curve y x 2 at the point 1, 1 . Normally, we compute the slope m using two
points along the tangent line. But we know only of one point along this line
which is 1, 1 . However, we can estimate the slope of the tangent line by pro-
ducing a secant line as shown in Fig 2.1. Using the points of intersection, which
are 1, 1 and 0, 0 , the slope of the secant line is

1 0
msec 1
1 0

Figure 2.1 Slope of secant line as an estimate for

the slope of tangent line

As an estimate of the slope of the tangent line, this is better than pure
guess. But how can we improve our estimate? We can improve it by moving
the point 0,0 along y x 2 closer to 1, 1 . This produces a sequence of secant
lines whose slopes approach the slope of the tangent line.

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 Tangent line

Figure 2.2 A sequence of

secant lines approaching
the tangent line

Some numerical computations about these slopes are presented in Table 2.1.
Since the secant line through the point 1, 1 and 0.99,0.9801 is the clos-
est to the tangent line after 7 approximations, this gives a better estimate for the
slope of the line tangent to y x 2 at 1, 1 . This slope is

mTL msec 1.99

Sequence Tangent Point x i , y i along y x2 Slope Secant Line

1 ( 1, 1) ( 0,0 ) 1

2 ( 1, 1) ( 0.25, 0.0625 ) 1.25

3 ( 1, 1) ( 0.5, 0.25 ) 1.5

4 ( 1, 1) ( 0.6, 0.36) 1.6

5 ( 1, 1) ( 0.7, 0.49 ) 1.7

6 ( 1, 1) ( 0.8, 0.64 ) 1.8

7 ( 1, 1) (0.99, 0.9801 ) 1.99

Table 2.1 Some numerical approximations for the slope of tangent line as x
approaches 1 from the left

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Chapter 2 The Derivative

But we are not yet about to leave it at that, because the secant line we
produced, approached the point of tangency from the left. Our secant line can
approach 1, 1 from the right, that is, x 1 . This produces another set of ap-
proximations. Those approximations are presented in Table 2.2.
The approximations presented in Tables 2.1 and 2.2 point to the same
slope. It is mTL 2.0 . We can state this in limit form.

y
lim msec lim
xa x0 x

where x xi 1 xi , and y f x x f x .

Sequence Tangent Point xi , yi along y x2 Slope secant line

1 ( 1, 1) (2, 4 ) 3

2 ( 1, 1) (1.75, 3.0625) 2.75

3 ( 1, 1) (1.5, 2.25) 2.5

4 ( 1, 1) ( 1.4, 1.96 ) 2.4

5 ( 1, 1) ( 1.3, 1.69) 2.3

6 ( 1, 1) (1.2, 1.44 ) 2.2

7 ( 1, 1) ( 1.1, 1.21 ) 2.1

Table 2.2 Some numerical approximations for the slope of tangent line as x
approaches 1 from the right

We bring back the table and show x and y . It is necessary to look into
the limit of msec as x 1 and x 1 because this will establish if the limit
exists as x 1 . The process of computing the derivative is called differentia-
tion. If the derivative does exist, the function is said to be differentiable. Fur-
thermore, if f is differentiable on an interval I then f is differentiable at every
point in I.

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 Tangent line

Sequence Tangent Point xi , yi x y msec

1 ( 1, 1) (2, 4 ) 1 3 3

2 ( 1, 1) (1.75, 3.0625) 0.75 2.0625 2.75

3 ( 1, 1) (1.5, 2.25) 0.5 1.25 2.5

4 ( 1, 1) ( 1.4, 1.96 ) 0.4 0.96 2.4

5 ( 1, 1) ( 1.3, 1.69) 0.3 0.69 2.3

6 ( 1, 1) (1.2, 1.44 ) 0.2 0.44 2.2

7 ( 1, 1) ( 1.1, 1.21 ) 0.1 0.21 2.1

Table 2.3 Slope of secant line as x 0

The Derivative

If x, y is a point along the curve y f x then, the derivative of

f x is given by

f x x f x
f ' x lim
x 0 x

provided the limit exists.

Figure 2.3 Derivative as the slope of the line tangent to the curve
at x, y where y f x

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Chapter 2 The Derivative

Example 2.3 Finding the derivative of a function at an indicated point

Obtain the derivative of f x 2 x 2 3x 1 at x 2 .

Solution

f x x f x
f ' x lim
x 0 x

lim
2x x 3x x 1 2x
2 2

3x 1 Substitution
x 0 x

4 xx 2x 3x
2 Expand and combine similar
lim terms
x 0 x

lim 4 x 2x 3 4 x 3 Factor out and cancel x

x0

At x 2 , f ' 2 42 3 5 .

Graphically, this tells as that the slope mTL of the tangent line to the curve when
x = 2, is 5.

Example 2.4 Finding the derivative of a function at an indicated point

Obtain the derivative of f x

1
at x 1.
x

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 Tangent line

Solution

f x x f x
f ' x lim
x 0 x
Simplify a complex fraction and cancel the
common factor x
1 1

x x x x 1
f ' x lim lim lim
x0 x x 0 xxx x x 0 xx x
1

x2

When x = 1, f ' 1 1 .

Example 2.5 Finding the derivative of a square root function at an indicated

point

Obtain the derivative of f x x 1 at x 10.

Solution
f x x f x
f ' x lim
x 0 x

x x 1 x 1
lim
x 0 x Multiply by a conjugate

x x 1 x 1 x x 1 x 1
lim
x 0
x x x 1 x 1

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Chapter 2 The Derivative

lim
x x 1 x 1 lim x
x0 x x x 1 x 1 x0 x x x 1 x 1
lim
1

1 Factor out x and cancel
x 0 x x 1 x 1 2 x 1 common factor

At x 10 , f ' 10
1
.
6

Three step rule to compute the derivative using limits

Computing for the derivative of a function at x = a using limits can lead

to long and messy solutions. But we can organize our solution by observing 3
steps.

Step 1 Simplify f x x f x

f x x f x
Step 2 Simplify
x

f x x f x
Step 3 Find the limit, lim
x0 x

Example 2.6 Using 3-step rule to evaluate the derivative of a function

Find the derivative of f x e x when x 0 .

Solution

Step 1. f x x f x e xx e x e x ex 1

Step 2.

f x x f x e x e x 1
ex

e x 1
x x x

f x x f x e x 1
Step 3. lim lim e x
x0 x x0 x

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 Tangent line

Properties of limits, review the

e x 1
e lim
x
e x 1 e x chapter on this topic
x0 x

DIFFERENTIABILITY AND CONTINUITY

When a function f x has a derivative at x a , it also implies that

f x is continuous at a. We shall not prove that statement here but we shall
present it as a theorem. It would have been nice if all continuous functions are
differentiable. But continuity is not a sufficient condition for differentiability.
We shall illustrate this by studying the function f x x .

Example 2.7 A function which is continuous at a point but not differentiable

at that point

Show that f x x is not differentiable at x 0 .

Solution

The absolute value function f x x is equivalent to

x if x 0
f x
x if x 0

In order for f ' x to exist, the left and right sided limits of the slope of
the secant line must be equal. Let us check it.

lim
x x x lim
x
1
x x x x x x

x x x x
lim lim 1
x x x x x x

We can see here that the one-sided limits do not agree 1 1 . This is easi-
ly visible from the graph itself.

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Chapter 2 The Derivative

Figure 2.4 f x is continuous at x = 0, but is not

differentiable at that point.

Theorem 2.1 Differentiability and Continuity

If f x is differentiable at x a , then f x is continuous x a

If a function f is differentiable at a, then it is continuous at a. But its

converse is not necessarily true. A function could be continuous at a point, but
not differentiable at that point, f x x is one such example. Theorem 2.1 is
also equivalent to the statement, if f is not continuous at a then it is not diffe-
rentiable at a.

Example 2.8 Functions which are continuous but not differentiable at a

point

0 if x 0
Show that if f x then the function is continuous at x 0 , but
2 x if 0
f ' 0 does not exist.

Solution

Show continuity.
i. f 0 0

ii. lim 0 lim 2 x 0

x 0 x 0

iii. lim f x f 0 0
x 0

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f x is continuous at 0.

Use the 3-step rule to check the derivative at x 0.

0
i. lim 0
x 0 x

2x x 2 x 2x
ii. lim lim 2
x 0 x x 0 x

iii. The one-sided limits are not equal. This implies that the derivative
of the function does not exist at x = 0.

Figure 2.5 Continuous but not differentiable

at x = 0
0 if x 0
f x
2 x if 0

We show graphs of functions which have no derivative at the indicated

values of x.

a. Not differentiable at x =-2 b. Not differentiable at x = 0 and 4

c. Not differentiable at x =1, 2, and 4.1 d. Not differentiable at x =0, 2, 3, 4, and 5

Figure 2.6 Functions which have no derivative at the indicated values of x

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Chapter 2 The Derivative

EXERCISE 2.1 TANGENT LINE TO THE CURVE

1. Let f x 4 x 2 . The equation of the tangent line to the curve at 1, 3 is

2 x y 5 as shown in the figure.

a. What is the slope of the tangent line to the curve at 1, 3 ?

b. What is the derivative of the function when x 1 ?

2. Let g x x 2 2 . The equation of the tangent line to the curve at 1, 1

is 2 x y 3 as shown in the figure.

a. What is the slope of the tangent line to the curve at 1, 1 ?

b. What is the derivative of the function when x 1 ?

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3. Consider the function defined by f x 4 x 12 as shown below. Identi-

fy the interval where the slope of the tangent line is positive, zero, and nega-
tive.

4. Consider the trigonometric function f x sin x in the closed interval

0, 2 . Identify the interval where the derivative of the function is positive,
zero, and negative.

EXERCISE 2.2 THE DERIVATIVE OF A FUNCTION

Use the three-step rule to show that the derivative of each of the function f x is
f ' x .

5. f x 11; f ' x 0

6. g x 2 x; g ' x 2

7. F x 2 x; F ' x 1

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Chapter 2 The Derivative

8. f x 1 x 2 ; f ' x 2 x

9. g x sin x; g ' x cos x (hint: use sum of angles identity)

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