Tangents and Normals

Tangents and Normals: Have you ever sat on a merry-go-round? If

yes, then you would understand from your experience when I tell you
that the force you experience is towards the centre of the merry-go-
round but your velocity (the tendency of motion) is in the way
towards which your body is pointing.

Another way of saying the same thing would be to let you know that
your velocity at any point is tangential while the force at any point is
normal to the circle along which you are moving. Can you draw a
connection between both the ways of saying the same thing?

Don’t worry if you can’t because that’s what this branch of

application of derivatives is concerned with: Finding tangents and
normals to a given curve. It is a branch of great significance in
finding the different maxima and minima of a function, analyzing the
directions of velocity and acceleration of a moving object, finding the
angles and the shortest distance between two curves and much more.
Let’s jump straight into it!

Tangent
A tangent at a point on the curve is a straight line that touches the
curve at that point and whose slope is equal to the gradient/derivative
of the curve at that point. From the definition, you can deduce how to
find the equation of the tangent to the curve at any point. Given a
function y = f(x), the equation of the tangent to this curve at x =
x0 can be found in the following way:

 Find out the gradient/derivative of the curve at the point x =

x : To do this one needs to calculate dydx⌋x=x0. Let us call this
0

value m, in analogy to the slope of a straight line.

  Find the equation of the straight line passing through the
point (x , y(x )) with slope m. This is quite straightforward
0 0

and can be found out as

y–y1x–x1=m

You have found out the equation of the tangent to the curve at
the given point!

Normal
A normal at a point on the curve is a straight line that intersects the
curve at that point and is perpendicular to the tangent at that point. If
its slope is given by n, and the slope of the tangent at that point or the
value of the gradient/derivative at that point is given by m; then we
have m×n = -1. Steps for finding the normal to a given curve y =
f(x) at a point x = x0:

 Find out the gradient/derivative of the curve at the point x =

x : This first step is exactly the same as in the method of
0

finding the equation of the tangent to the curve i.e. m

= dydx⌋x=x0
 Find the slope ‘n’ of the normal: As the normal is
perpendicular to the tangent, we have:

n=−1m
  Now, find the equation of the straight line passing through
the point (x , y(x )) with slope n. The equation is given by:
0 0

y–y1x–x1=n
It might be quite noticeable that both the tangents and normals to a
curve go hand in hand. Both are easily derivable from one another.
Now take a look at the diagram below to visualize them better, and
then proceed towards the solved example to clear your doubts.

Solved Examples on Tangents and Normals

Question 1: Consider the curve given by y = f(x) = x3 – x + 3.

a. Find the equation of the line tangent to the curve at the

point (1,3)
b. Find the line normal to the curve at the point (1,3)
Answer : a) We can see that the point (1,3) satisfies the equation of
the curve. Now, for the equation of the tangent, we need the gradient
of the curve at that point. It can be found as,

f(x) = x3 – x + 3
f′(x) = 3x2 – 1
Then, f′(x = 1) = 3.(1)2 – 1 = 2 = m

The tangent would be the straight line passing through (1,3) with
slope = 2.

(y – 3) = 2(x – 1)
y = 2x + 1
2x – y + 1 = 0

b) The normal would pass through the point (1,3) and its
slope n would be given by,

n = -(1/m) = -(1/2) = -0.5

Equation of the normal:

(y – 3) = -0.5(x – 1)
2y = -x + 7
x – 2y – 7 = 0

Question 2: Explain the difference between a tangent and a

normal?

Answer: A tangent refers to a straight line whose extension takes

place from a point on a curve, with a gradient equal to the curve’s
gradient existing at that particular point. A normal, in contrast, refers
to a straight line whose extension takes place from a curve’s point
such that it is perpendicular to the point’s tangent.
Question 3: Explain how can one find the tangent?

Answer: One can find the tangent by the following steps:

 Sketch the tangent line and the function.

 Take the first derivative in order to find the equation for the
tangent line’s slope.
 Enter the x value belonging to the point under investigation.
 In point-slope form, write the equation of the tangent line.
 Finally, do confirmation of the equation on the graph.
Question 4: Can we say that the gradient is the same as a slope?

Answer: Gradient refers to the degree of a graph’s steepness at any

point. Slope refers to the graph’s gradient at any point. So, one can
say that both are the same.

Question 5: Name the four kinds of slopes?

Answer: The four kinds of slopes are zero, undefined, positive, and
negative.

Applications:

A car has skidded while rounding a corner, tangent to the double yellow lines
curve.

Tangent:
 1. If we are traveling in a car around a corner and we drive over
something slippery on the road (like oil, ice, water or loose gravel)
and our car starts to skid, it will continue in a direction tangent to the
curve.
2. Likewise, if we hold a ball and swing it around in a circular motion
then let go, it will fly off in a tangent to the circle of motion.

The spokes of a bicycle wheel are normal to the rim.

Normal:

1. When you are going fast around a circular track in a car, the force
that you feel pushing you outwards is normal to the curve of the
road. Interestingly, the force that is making you go around that corner
is actually directed towards the center of the circle, normal to the
circle.
2. The spokes of a wheel are placed normal to the circular shape of the
wheel at each point where the spoke connects with the center.

Example 1:
Find the equation of a tangent to the curve y = (x-7)/[(x-2)(x-3)] at the point where it cuts the x-axis.
Solution:
As the point cut at the x-axis, then y=0. Hence, the equation of the curve, if y=0, then the value of x is 7.
(i.e., x=7). Hence, the curve cuts the x-axis at (7,0)
Now, differentiate the equation of the curve with respect to x, we get
dy/dx = [(1-y)(2x-5)] / [(x-2)((x-3)]
dy/dx](7, 0) = (1-0)/[(5)(4)] = 1/20
Hence, the slope of the tangent line at (7, 0) is 1/20.
Therefore, the equation of the tangent at (7, 0) is
Y-0 = (1/20)(x-7)
20y-x+7 = 0.
Example 2:
Find the equation of tangent and normal to the curve x(⅔)+ y(⅔) = 2 at (1, 1)
Solution:
Given curve: x(⅔)+ y(⅔) = 2
Finding Equation of Tangent:
Now, differentiate the curve with respect to x, we get
(⅔)x(-⅓) + (⅔)y(-⅓) dy/dx = 0
The above equation can be written as:
dy/dx = -[y/x]⅓
Hence, the slope of the tangent at the point (1, 1) is dy/dx](1,1) = -1
Now, substituting the slope value in the tangent equation, we get
Equation of tangent at (1, 1) is
y-1 = -1(x-1)
y+x-2 = 0
Thus, the equation of tangent to the curve at (1, 1) is y+x-2 =0
Finding Equation of Normal:
The slope of the normal at the point (1, 1) is
= -1/slope of the tangent at (1, 1)
= -1/ -1
=1
Therefore, the slope of the normal is 1.
Hence, the equation of the normal is
y-1 = 1(x-1)
y-x = 0

Example 3:

Find the equation of tangent and normal to the curve y = x3 at (1, 1).

Solution:
On differentiating with respect to x, we get:
dxdy=3x2

(dxdy)(1,1)=3(1)2=3

Thus, the slope of the tangent at (1,1) is 3 and the equation of the
tangent is given as,

y−1=3(x−1)⇒y=3x−2

The slope of the normal at (1,1) is Slope of the tangent at(1,1)−1=3−1.

Therefore, the equation of the normal at (1,1) is given as,

y−1=−31(x−1)⇒x+3y−4=0

Note:
The tangent is a straight line which just touches the curve at a given point. The
normal is a straight line which is perpendicular to the tangent. We also make
use of the fact that if two lines with gradients m1 and m2 respectively are
perpendicular, then m1m2= −1.
 Example 1: Find the equation of tangent and normal to the circle x2 + y2 = 5, at
the point (2, 3).

Solution:

The given equation of the circle is x2 + y2 = 5.

The slope of the tangent is obtained by taking the derivative of the above
expression with respect to x.

2x + 2y.dy/dx = 0

dy/dx = -2x/2y

dy/dx = -x/y.

Let us substitute the point (2, 3) in the above differentiation to obtain the slope of
the tangent.

Slope of tangent = m = dy/dx = -2/3

The equation of the tangent can be computed using the point slope form of
equation of line - (y - y1) = m(x - x1).

(y - 3) = -2/3.(x - 2)

3(y - 3) = -2(x - 2)

3y - 9 = -2x + 4

2x + 3y -9 - 4 = 0

2x + 3y -13 = 0

2x + 3y = 13.

The slope of the normal is m = -dx/dy = -(-y/x) = y/x = 3/2

Equation of the normal can also be computed using the point(2,3), and through the
point slope form of equation of lne - (y - y1) = m(x - x1).

(y - 3) = 3/2(x - 2)

2(y - 3) = 3(x - 2)

2y - 6 = 3x - 6

3x - 2y = 0

Therefore the equation of the tangent is 2x + 3y = 13, and the equation of the
normal is 3x - 2y = 0.
(y - 0) = 1/6 (x - 5)

6y = x - 5

x - 6y - 5 = 0

The equation: x - 6y = 5, is the required equation of the tangent to the curve.

The slope of the normal is m = -dx/dy = -(6/1) = -6

The equation of the normal having the slope m = -6 and passing through the point
(5, 0) is as follows.

(y - 0) = -6(x - 5)

y = -6(x - 5)

y = -6x + 30

The equation, 6x + y = 30 is the required equation of the normal.

Therefore the equation of the tangent to the curve is x - 6y = 5, and the equation
of the normal is 6x + y = 30.

THE END