Tangent lines are fundamental for understanding calculus.

Several of the sections in this portion of the course deal with finding derivatives and equations of tangent lines. A few points to remember:

The slope of a tangent line to a curve is always given by .

When we are dealing with parametric representations or polar representations of the curve, we must figure out how to compute using the information we are given!

If we have a point on a curve, the equation of the tangent line (if it exists) at that point in Cartesian coordinates is: where is the slope of the tangent line at that point.

We will find various different ways to find this slope depending on how we describe the curve!

The purpose of this assignment is to review some of the procedures and concepts related to tangent lines from a first course in calculus that will be necessary to answer questions from the upcoming sections.

The slope of the tangent line is given by Given two points, and where , the slope of the secant line that joins these points is given by: The limit (assuming it exists) of this quotient as approaches is the slope of the tangent line.
Given a function ,
Let’s see if we can explain why the slope of the tangent line is the instantaneous rate of change:

The average rate of change on an interval is given by the

of the . The limit of the average rate of change as goes to gives the rate of change.

Let , , and . Find the tangent line to at .
Let , , and . Find the tangent line to at .
Let , , and . Find the tangent line to at .