Basic Calculus

INTUITIVE NOTION OF THE

DERIVATIVE –
THE SLOPE OF A TANGENT
LINE TO A CURVE
Objective:
At the end of the lesson,
the students will be able
to determine a
specified form of an
equation of the tangent
line to a curve.
Recall: If P1 (x1,y 1) and P2 (x2,y2)
are any two distinct points on line
L, which is not parallel to the y
axis, then the slope of line L,
denoted by m, is given by
y 2  y1
m
x2  x1
Some Forms of the Equation
of the Straight Line
a. Point-Slope Form
y  y1  m ( x  x1 )
b. Slope-Intercept Form
y = mx + b
c. General Form
ax + by + c = 0
Equation of the Vertical Line
x = a, where a is a real number
Equation of the Horizontal Line
y = b, where b is a real number

The Slope of a Line is denoted

by m
a. If m > 0, line is inclined to the
right
b. If m < 0, line is inclined to the
left
c. If m = 0, line is a horizontal
line
d. If m is undefined, line is a
vertical line.
Parallel Lines have the
same slope.

Perpendicular Lines have

slopes which are negative
reciprocals of each other.
Given some properties, you
learned how to determine the
equation of a line before.
However, how to determine the
equation of a line that is tangent
to a given curve at a particular
point requires the use of limits. To
understand this further, the
definition below will be of great
help.
Definition: Limit Definition of
the Slope of a Tangent Line to a
Given Curve
Given a point 𝑃(𝑎, 𝑓(𝑎)) on the
graph of the function with equation
𝑦 = 𝑓(𝑥), the slope of the line
tangent to the graph of 𝑓 at a point 𝑃
f a   x   f a 
is given by m a   lim
if this limit exists.  x 0  x
Definition: Alternative
Definition of the Slope of a
Tangent Line to a Given Curve
Given a point 𝑃(𝑎, 𝑓(𝑎)) on the
graph of the function defined by
𝑦 = 𝑓 𝑥 , the slope of the line
tangent to 𝑓 at point 𝑃 is given by
𝑓 𝑥 −𝑓 𝑎
𝑚 𝑎 = lim , if this limit
𝑥→𝑎 𝑥−𝑎
exists.
Definition:
The tangent line to y = f(x) at (a,f(a)) is
the line through (a,f(a)) whose slope is
equal to f’(a), the derivative of f at a.

We defined the tangent line to the

curve y = f (x) at the point P (a, f (a)) to
be the line that passes through P and
has slope m.
Examples:
1. Consider the function
𝑦 =𝑓 𝑥 =𝑥 +1 3 whose
graph is shown below.
Determine the general
equation of the tangent line to
the graph of 𝑓 at the point
𝑃(1, 2).
 y f(x)=x^3+1

-3.5 -3 -2.5 -2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5

-2

-4

-6

-8
2. Find the slope-intercept
form of the equation of the
tangent line to the curve
2𝑥−1
defined by 𝑦 = 𝑔 𝑥 =
𝑥+1
at the point where 𝑥 = 2.
3. Given the function
𝑦 = ℎ 𝑥 = 𝑥 − 2.
Determine the equation
of the tangent line to the
graph of ℎ, parallel
𝑥
to
the line 𝑦 = + 5.
2
Remark
It is possible that the limit does not
exist; that is, (1) the limit itself is
not defined, which means that the
left-hand limit at 𝑎 is not equal to
the right-hand limit at 𝑎; or (2) the
limit is infinity. The first case,
implies that there is no tangent line
to the curve at the given point.
This usually happens to functions
whose graphs have sharp turning
points or cusps such as the vertex
of the graph of the absolute value
function 𝑦 = 𝑓 𝑥 = 𝑥 . On the
other hand, the second case leads
to a “vertical tangent line,” which
eventually leads to the equation
𝑥 = 𝑎.
4. Determine an equation
of the tangent line to the
parabola defined by
2
𝑦 = 𝑓 𝑥 = 𝑥 − 2𝑥 at the
point (2, 0).
Thank You ! 