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Dawson College Mathematics Department 2.6-The Definition of Derivatives and The Tangent Line

The document is a note on calculus concepts including: - Defining the average rate of change using the slope of a secant line between two points on a function's graph - Defining the instantaneous rate of change as the limit of the average rate of change as the two points get infinitely close, which is the slope of the tangent line - Stating that the derivative of a function f(x) is the limit that defines the slope of the tangent line, and represents the instantaneous rate of change - Noting that a function must be continuous at a point to be differentiable there

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91 views5 pages

Dawson College Mathematics Department 2.6-The Definition of Derivatives and The Tangent Line

The document is a note on calculus concepts including: - Defining the average rate of change using the slope of a secant line between two points on a function's graph - Defining the instantaneous rate of change as the limit of the average rate of change as the two points get infinitely close, which is the slope of the tangent line - Stating that the derivative of a function f(x) is the limit that defines the slope of the tangent line, and represents the instantaneous rate of change - Noting that a function must be continuous at a point to be differentiable there

Uploaded by

Sophie L.
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Dawson College

Mathematics Department
Calculus I, 201-NYA-05(Open), Fall 2021
2.6-The Definition of Derivatives and the Tangent Line
Note 4

Noushin Sabetghadam
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Average Rate of Change and the Secant Line

Let f be a continuous function over its domain. To nd the average rate of


change of f over some interval contained in its domain, say [a, x], we will look
at the slope of the secant line between the points of (a, f(a)) and (x, f(x)) on
the graph of the function f. The slope of this secant line can be obtained by

∆y f(x) − f(a)
average rate of change = =
∆x x−a

Instantaneous Rate of Change and the Tangent Line


Let f be the same function as above, we want to nd theinstantaneous
rate of change at (a, f(a)). This is the
f(x) − f(a)
limit of the as x → a which is
x−a
the same as the slope of the tangent line
to the graph of the function at (a, f(a)).
So, the instantaneous rate of change at (a, f(a)) or in other words the slope
of the tangent line at this point is obtained by:
f(x) − f(a)
Instantaneous rate of change = mtangent = x→a
lim
x−a

We usually use an alternative notation for the slopes using this gure where
∆x = x − a = h

Now, the slope of the tangent line can be found by:


f(a + h) − f(a)
mtangent = lim
h→0 h

What we have found so far as the slope of the tangent line to the graph of
f at x = a is the derivative of f at one point however what we are interested
in is the derivative of f as a function that is denoted by f 0 (read f-prime) and
it gives us the derivative of f where ever it is de ned.

Derivative of a Function
The derivative of a continuous function f with respect to x is the function f 0
f(x + h) − f(x)
f 0 (x) = lim .
h→0 h
The domain of f 0 is the set of all x for which the limit exists.

So, the value of f 0(a) is the slope of the tangent line at (a, f(a).
(a) Use the graph of the function and nd the average rate of change over
[0, 0.5] and [1, 2.5]. Then guess the slope of the tangent lines to the graph at
the indicated points.

Differentiability and Continuity


Function f is di erentiable at x = a if the limit in the de nition of f 0(a)
exist and therefore f needs to be continuous at x = a. There are three main
cases that a function is not di erentiable at a point.

Non differentiable Cases


See the three di erent case below and explain why the function is not
di erentiable at these points.

(b) For which indicated point(s) the function is not di erentiable.


In the following examples we will use the de nition of the derivative namely
f(x + h) − f(x)
f 0 (x) = lim to nd the derivative and the slope of the tangent
h→0 h
line.

Examples
Use the de nition of the derivative to nd the derivative of each function.
1. f(x) = 3x + 7

2. f(x) = x2 + 1

3. f(x) = 4x2 − 3x

1
4. f(x) =
x

3
5. f(x) =
2x

1
6. f(x) =
2+x
√
7. f(x) = x
√
8. f(x) = 2x + 1

Find the tangent line to the graph of each function at the given point.

9. f(x) = x2 + 1 at (2, 5)

−5
10. f(x) = at (5, −1)
x
√
11. f(x) = x − 1 at (10, 3)

Find the tangent line to the graph of each function at the given value of
x.
12. f(x) = 1 − 3x2 at x = 1

1+x
13. f(x) = at x = 2
x−1

√ 1
14. f(x) = 1 − 3x at x =
3

15. f(x) = x3 at x = −1

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