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LESSON 14: Slope of a Curve, Tangent, and

Normal Line

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES:

At the end of this lesson, the students are expected to accomplish the
following:
 determine the slope of a curve and the derivative of a function at a
specified point;
 solve problems involving slope of a curve;
 determine the equations of tangent and normal lines using
differentiation; and
 solve problems involving tangent and normal lines.

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES:

The lecture method will be used in this lesson. Recall facts and concepts
about slope and relate it to the discussion of slope of a curve, or the teacher may
ask the students about their prior knowledge about slope. Use overhead or LCD
projector for the presentation of problems and graphs. This will help the students
to visualize clearly what are given and required in the problems.

PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT:

Give board work and seatwork to assess the comprehension of the

students about the lesson. Ask them to write in a piece of paper the procedure in
finding the tangent and normal lines.

DISCUSSION OF THE TOPICS:

Consider a curve y  f  x  as shown in Fig. 14.1. Let D be any point (x,y)

on the curve. Let E be another point on this curve different from point D with
coordinates ( x  x, y  y ) . Draw the secant DE. Let E move along the curve
and approach D, it is noticeable that the secant will rotate around D and its
limiting position is the tangent line at D, when x approaches zero. By using
the four-step rule we obtain,

dy y
 lim  tan   slope of tangent line at point D(x, y)  m
dx x 0 x
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Thus, the slope of the tangent line to a curve at any point is equal to the first
derivative at that point.

y y(x)

y

D
F

x
 x Fig. 14.1

A B

Example 14.1. Find the slope of the curve y  3 x 2  2 x  1 at (-1,6).

Solution:

Differentiating y  3 x 2  2 x  1 , we have
dy
 6x  2
dx
To find the slope of the tangent at (-1, 6), substitute x = -1 in the equation, that is,
dy
 6( 1)  2  8
dx
Hence, m = – 8
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x 1
Example 14.2. At what points do the curve y  ,  x  1 have a slope of 2?
x 1

Solution:

dy
Differentiating and equating  2 , we have
dx
dy x  1  ( x  1) 2
 
dx ( x  1) 2
( x  1) 2
2
2
( x  1) 2
2( x  1) 2  2
( x  1) 2  1
x2  2 x  1  1
x2  2 x  0
x ( x  2)  0
x  0, x  2  0
x  2
when x  0, y  1
x  2, y  3
Hence the points are (0,-1) and (-2,3)
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Example 14.3. Find the equation of the tangent and normal line to the curve
y  4 x 2  2 x  1 at (-2,21).

Solution:

The slope of the curve is y’ at –2, hence

y '  8x  2
y ' ( 2)  8( 2)  2  18
the equation of the tangent line at (-2, 21) is
y  y 1  mtl ( x  x1 )
y  3  18( x  2)
y  3  ( 18x  36)
18 x  y  33  0 eqn of TL

1 1 1
since TL  NL hence, mtl   or mnl   thus mnl  .
mnl mtl 18

The equation of the normal line at (-2,21) is

y  y1  mnl ( x  x1 )
1
y 3 ( x  2)
18
18 y  54  x  2
x  18 y  56  0 eqn of NL
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Example 14.4 What is the equation of the tangent line and normal line to
8
y at (4,-4) ?
x

Solution:

8 1
since y   8 x 2 then
x
1 3 3
y '   (8) x 2  4 x 2
2
3 4 1
y '(4)  4(4) 2
 4(2) 3  
8 2
1
therefore mtl 
2
the equation of the tangent line at (4,-4) then is
1
y  4  ( x  4)
2
2y  8  x  4
x  2 y  12  0 eqn of TL

since NL  TL then mnl  2

the equation of the normal line at (4,-4) is
y  4  2( x  4)
y  4  2 x  8
2 x  y  4  0 eqn of NL
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Example 14.5. Find the equation of the tangent line to the curve y  2 x 2  3 that
is parallel to the line 8 x  y  3  0 .

Solution:
The slope of the tangent line to the curve y  2 x 2  3 is y '  4 x .

The slope of the line 8 x  y  3  0 is 8 (using slope-intercept form)

Since tangent line is parallel to line 8 x  y  3  0 then their slopes are equal
hence ml  mtl

4x  8 and y  2(2) 2  3
x2 y 83
y  11
and y '  4(2)  8
therefore the equation of the tangent line at (2,11) is
y  11  8( x  2)
y  11  8 x  16
8 x  y  5  0 eqn of TL
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EXERCISES:

I. Find the slope of the given curve at the point indicated.

1. y  9 x 3  4 x  1, (  2, 0)
2. y  x x  1, (5,10)
2
3. y  x  x 3 , (1, 1)
x a a 5
4. y   ,  , 
a x  2 2
1
5. y  x  , (4,1)
x
6. x 3  3xy  2 y 3  0, (2,0)
7. x 2 y 2  x 2  y 2 , (1, 2)
1 1 1 1
8.   2 x,  , 
x y 3 2
9. 2 x y  3 xy  5, (2,3)
3 3

10.  2 x  3  3 y 3 , (0, 0)
5

II. Find the equation of the tangent line and normal line of the following
curves at the given point.

1. y  2 x 3  3 x 2  2 x  5, where x  1
x3
2. y 2  , (2,2)
4 x
3. y  x 3  3 x 1 , (1,4)
4. y  x 16  x 2 , (0,0)
5. x 2  y 2  4 x  21  0, (5,4)
6. 4 x 2  9 y 2  25, (2,-1)
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III. Solve the following problems.

1. At what points is 9 the slope of the curve y  x 3  3x 2 ?

2. Find the point where the normal line to y  x  x at (4,6) crosses the
y-axis.
3. Find the tangent line to x 2  y 2  5 and parallel to 2 x  y  4 .
4. Find the normal line to the curve x 2  2 y  8 and perpendicular to the
line x  2 y  4  0 .
5. Determine the coefficients so that the curve y  ax 3  bx 2  cx  d is
tangent to the line 12 x  y  13  0 at (-1,1) and to have a horizontal
tangent at (1,5).
6. At what point of the curve xy   1  x  y  is the tangent line parallel to
2

the x-axis?
7. Two lines through the point (-1,3) are tangent to the curve
x 2  4 y 2  4 x  8 y  3  0 . Find an equation of each line.