Slope of the Tangent Line and Normal Line to the Curve

Recall:

• Slope is the steepness of a line as it moves from LEFT to RIGHT.

• The derivative is the slope of the tangent line to 𝑦 = 𝑓(𝑥) at 𝑥.
• A secant line is a line that passes through two points of a curve.
• A tangent line is a line that "just touches" the curve at one point.

Suppose we have a curve 𝑦 = 𝑓(𝑥)

𝑓(𝑥 + ℎ) − 𝑓(𝑥) 𝑑𝑦
𝑚 = lim = 𝑦 ′ = 𝑓 ′ (𝑥) =
ℎ→0 ℎ 𝑑𝑥
Steps to find the Slope of the line tangent to the Curve

1. Find the derivative of the function

2. Substitute the values of 𝑥 and 𝑦 into the derivative
3. Solve for the slope of the tangent line

Example:

What is the Slope of the tangent line to the curve 𝑦 = 𝑥 2 at 𝑥 = 1.

𝑥=1
Step 1: Find the derivative of the function

𝑦 = 𝑥2 → 𝑦 ′ = 2𝑥
Step 2: Substitute the values of 𝑥 and 𝑦 into the derivative

𝑦 ′ = 2𝑥 → 𝑦 ′ = 2(1)
Step 3: Solve for the slope of the tangent line

𝑚 = 𝑦′ = 2

𝑚=2

𝑥=1

Slope of the Normal line to the curve

- The normal line is the line that is perpendicular to the tangent line at the point of tangency.

1
𝑚𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙 = −
𝑚𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑡

Steps to find the Slope of the line normal to the curve

1. Find the derivative of the function

2. Substitute the values of 𝑥 and 𝑦 into the derivative
3. Solve for the slope of the tangent line
4. Solve for the slope of the normal line