How to find the slope of the secant line. Now lets imagine a line n which is parallel to line m and tangent to the curve l. M fracdelta adelta b fracb2 b1a2 a1 fracf 4 f1 4 1. As you let d x approach zero the two points become closer together and the secant line becomes closer to the tangent line of the graph of f.
The x is the distance from x to the end of your interval. This calculus video tutorial explains how to find the equation of a secant line that intersects the curve at two points. A tangent line is a straight line that touches a function at only one point.
Now that line suppose line m was secant to the curve suppose l. Slope of the secant line. So if youre finding the slope of a secant line it does not matter what kind of function it is so long as you have coordinates to work with.
The average rate of change of a function between two points and the slope between two points are the same thing. Y y 1 m x x 1. So i know the slope of the line m is equal to the slope of the line n because they are parallel.
7 votes see 1 more reply. The slope formula for secant line is same as slope of any line. The slope of the secant line is d y d x.
The slope of a line between any two points x1 y1 and x2 y2 is always m y2 y1 x2 x1. Y 2 y 1 x 2 x 1 the equation of the line through the two points can be found by using the slope point formula. Slope of a secant line.
However if you set d x 0 then the secant line is not defined and the slope d y d x 0 0 is also not defined. Sec fxxfx x 1 you need to know this formula. F x cos x and g x sin x 2 work just fine as well.
The x represents the starting point of your interval.