Section 2.1 Tangents and Derivatives at a Point A.

Slope of Tangent Line Previously, we approximated the slope of the tangent line by taking the limit of the slopes of the secant lines More formally, the slope of the line tangent to the curve at the point is given by

The slope of secant line represents an average rate of change over the interval. The slope of the tangent line represents the instantaneous rate of change at the point . Example: Find the slope of the curve at

B. Equation of Tangent Line Once we compute the slope of the tangent line, we can then write the equation of the tangent line. Recall the point-slope equation of a line: Example: Find the equation of the line tangent to the curve at the point

C. Derivative and Notation Because this calculation of the instantaneous rate of change occurs so often in science, engineering, and mathematics, it is given a special name and notation. The derivative of at is defined and denoted as follows:

We read

as prime of or as the derivative of

at .

Notice that this derivative formula is the same formula as the formula for computing the slope of the tangent line. It just has a new name in this section. Example: Find for and
[hint: ]

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