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Lecture #7

This document provides an overview of rates of change and tangent lines in mathematics. It discusses how the slope of a tangent line at a point P on a curve y=f(x) can be defined as the limit of the slopes of secant lines between P and nearby points Q as Q approaches P. It also defines average and instantaneous rates of change, and explains how derivatives provide a way to quantify instantaneous rates of change and use them to find equations of tangent lines. The document gives examples of how derivatives are calculated and discusses situations where functions may not be differentiable.

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Mohamed Elsafany
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18 views19 pages

Lecture #7

This document provides an overview of rates of change and tangent lines in mathematics. It discusses how the slope of a tangent line at a point P on a curve y=f(x) can be defined as the limit of the slopes of secant lines between P and nearby points Q as Q approaches P. It also defines average and instantaneous rates of change, and explains how derivatives provide a way to quantify instantaneous rates of change and use them to find equations of tangent lines. The document gives examples of how derivatives are calculated and discusses situations where functions may not be differentiable.

Uploaded by

Mohamed Elsafany
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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MAT 111: Mathematics 1

Lecture #7
Rates of change
Tangent Lines:
What is the mathematical definition of the tangent
line to a curve y = f(x) at a point P(x0, f(x0)) on the
curve?
Consider a point Q(x, f(x)) on the curve that is
distinct from P, and compute the slope mPQ of
the secant line through P and Q:
𝑓(𝑥)−𝑓(𝑥0 )
𝑚𝑃𝑄 =
𝑥−𝑥0
If we let x approach 𝑥0 , then the point Q will move
along the curve and approach the point P.
Rates of change
Tangent Lines:
If the secant line through P and Q approaches a
limiting position as x → x0 , then we will regard
that position to be the position of the tangent line
at P.

So, if the slope mPQ of the secant line through P


and Q approaches a limit as x → x0 , then we regard
that limit to be the slope mtan of the tangent line at
P. Thus, we make the following definition.

Thus, we make the following definition.


Rates of change
Tangent Lines:
Rates of change
Tangent Lines

Let h denote the difference

This equation expresses the slope of the tangent line as a limit of slopes
of secant lines.
Rates of change
Rates of change

The average velocity over a time interval [𝑡0 , 𝑡0 + h], h > 0, is defined to be:

Velocity can be viewed as rate of change—the rate of change of position with respect to time.
Rates of change
Slopes and Rates of Change
Rates of change occur in other applications.
For example:
• A microbiologist might be interested in the rate at which the number of bacteria in a colony
changes with time.
• A medical researcher might be interested in the rate at which the radius of an artery
changes with the concentration of alcohol in the bloodstream.

• An economist might be interested in the rate at which production cost changes with the
quantity of a product that is manufactured.

• An engineer might be interested in the rate at which the length of a metal rod changes with
temperature.
Rates of change
Slopes and Rates of Change
If y is a linear function y = mx + b, the slope m is the natural measure of the rate of
change of y with respect to x.

In this Figure:

Each 1-unit increase in x anywhere along the line


produces an m-unit change in y.

y changes at a constant rate with respect


to x along the line and that m measures
this rate of change.
Rates of change
Slopes and Rates of Change
Example: Find the rate of change of y with respect to x if

Solution:
(a) The rate of change of y with respect to x is m = 2.
So, each 1-unit increase in x produces a 2-unit increase in y.

(b) The rate of change of y with respect to x is m = -5.


So, each 1-unit increase in x produces a 5-unit decrease in y.
Rates of change
Rates of Change
Although the rate of change of y with respect to x is constant along a nonvertical
line y = mx + b, this is not true for a general (non-linear) curve y = f(x).

For example:

The change in y that results from a 1-unit increase in x


tends to have greater magnitude in regions where the
curve rises or falls rapidly than in regions where it rises
or falls slowly.
Rates of change
Geometrically:
The average rate of change of y with respect to x over the interval [𝑥0 ,𝑥1 ] is the
slope of the secant line through the points P(x0, f(x0)) and Q(x1, f(x1)).

If y = f(x), then the average rate of change of y


with respect to x over the interval [𝑥0 , 𝑥1 ] to be

Let:
Rates of change
Geometrically:
The instantaneous rate of change of y with respect to x at 𝑥0 is the slope of the
tangent line at the point P(x0, f(x0)) (since it is the limit of the slopes of the secant
lines through P).
The instantaneous rate of change of y with
respect to x at 𝒙𝟎 is

Let:
Rates of change
Example:

Solution:
(a)

(b)
The Derivative Function

It can be interpreted either as the slope of the tangent line to the curve y = f(x)
at x = 𝒙𝟎
or
the instantaneous rate of change of y with respect to x at x = 𝒙𝟎 .
The Derivative Function

y= b + m x
The Derivative Function
Example: Find the derivative with respect to x of f(x) =𝑥 2 , and use it to find the
equation of the tangent line to y = 𝑥 2 at x = 2.
Solution:

Thus, the slope of the tangent line to y = 𝑥 2 at x = 2 is


∵ 𝑚= 𝑓 ′ 𝒙𝟎 = 2𝒙𝟎 =𝑓 ′ 𝟐 = 2(2) =4
∵𝑓(𝑥0 )= 4 if 𝑥0 = 2, the equation of the tangent line is
∵ 𝑦 − 𝑓(𝑥0 )= m (𝑥 − 𝑥0 ) 𝑦 − 4 = 4(𝑥 − 2) 𝑦 − 4 = 4𝑥 − 8
∴ 𝑦 = 4𝑥 − 4
Differentiability
It is possible that the limit that defines the derivative of a function f may not exist
at certain points in the domain of f. At such points the derivative is undefined.
Differentiability
Example: Prove that f(x) = |x| is not differentiable at x = 0
Solution: According to the differentiability definition, that f(x) is differentiable if
the following limit exists.

and

Since these one-sided limits are not equal, the two-sided limit does not exist, and
hence f is not differentiable at x = 0.
Differentiability
Derivatives at the endpoints of an interval
If a function f is defined on a closed interval [a, b] but not outside that interval,
then 𝑓 ′ is not defined at the endpoints of the interval because derivatives are two-
sided limits.
To deal with this we define left-hand derivatives and right-hand derivatives by

respectively. These are called one-sided derivatives.


In general, we will say that f is differentiable on an interval of the form [a, b],
[a, + ∞), (-∞, b], [a, b), or (a, b] if it is differentiable at all points inside the
interval and the appropriate one-sided derivative exists at each included endpoint.

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