Lesson 15

Slope of a Curve,
Tangent Line and
Normal Line
OBJECTIVES:
At the end of this lesson, the students are
expected to accomplish the following:
• determine the slope of a curve and the
derivative of a function at a specified point;
• solve problems involving slope of a curve;
• determine the equations of tangent and normal
lines using differentiation; and
• solve problems involving tangent and normal
lines.
 y
tangent line

P( x1 , f ( x1 )) Q( x2 , f ( x2 ))

secant line

y y  f (x)

x  x 2  x1
x 2  x1  x
 Consider a point Q( x2 , f ( x2 )) on the curve
y  f (x), that is distinct from P( x1 , f ( x1 )),and
compute the slope m PQ of the secant line
through P and Q.
f ( x2 )  f ( x1 ) where : x  x2  x1
mPQ 
x and x2  x1  x

f ( x1  x)  f ( x1 )
mPQ 
x
 If we let x2 approach x1, then the point Q will
move along the curve and approach point P. As
point Q approaches P, the value of Δx
approaches zero and the secant line through P
and Q approaches a limiting position, then we
will consider that position to be the position of
the tangent line at P.
 Thus,
Thus, wewe make
make thefollowing
the followingdefinition.
definition.
DEFINITION:
Suppose that x1 is in the domain of the function f,
the tangent line to the curve y=f(x) at the point
P(x1,f(x1)) is the line with equation,
y  f ( x1 )  m( x  x1 )

f ( x1  x)  f ( x1 )
where m  lim provided
x 0 x
the limit exists andP( x1, f ( x1 )) is the point of
tangency.
DEFINITION
The derivative of y = f(x) at point P on the curve
is equal to the slope of the tangent line at P, thus
the derivative of the function f given by y= f(x) with
respect to x at any x in its domain is defined as:

dy y f ( x  x)  f ( x)
 lim  lim
dx x 0 x x0 x

provided the limit exists.

• Examples:

1. Find the slope of the curve y  3 x 2  2 x  1 at  1, 6  .

Solution :
y'  6 x  2

mtan gent line  6 x  2

at  1, 6  :
mtan gent line  6  1  2   8
 x 1
2. At what po int s do the curve y  ,  x  1 have slope of 2 ?
x 1

dy x  1   x  1 2
 
dx x  12 x  12
2
2
x  12
when x  0 , y  1
2 x  1  2
2

x  2 , y  3
x  12  1 Hence the po int s are
x2  2x  1  1
0 ,1 and  2 ,3
x2  2x  0
x x  2   0
x 0 , x2 0
x  -2
 8
3. What is the equation of the tan gent line and normal line to y  at 4,4 .
x
Solution : sin ce NL  TL then mNL  2
1
-8  and the equation of the normal
sin ce y   8 x then
2
x line at 4 ,4  is
y  4  2 x  4 
3 3
 
y'  -  8 x  4 x 2
1 2
2 y  4  2 x  8
y' 4   44   42  
3 4 1

2
3
 2 x  y  4  0 eq' n of NL
8 2
1
therefore mTL 
2
and the equation of the tan gent
line at 4,-4 is

y  4  x  4 
1
2
2y  8  x 4
x  2 y  12  0 eq' n of TL
4. Find the equation of the tan gent line to the curve y  2 x 2  3
that is // to the line 8 x  y  3  0 .
Solution :
8x  y  3  0
y  8x  3

4 x  8 and y  22   3
2

mL
x2 y  8  3  11
and y'  42   8
sin ce the tan gent line is // to
8 x  y  3 then mTL  mL  8 therefore the equation of the
and by taking the derivative of tangent line at 2,11 is
the equation of the given curve y - 11  8x - 2 
y  2x2  3 y - 11  8x - 16
y'  4 x  mTL , thus 4 x  8 8x - y - 5  0 eq' n of TL