UNIT 1 DIFFERENTIAL CALCULUS

Chapter 1: Limits and Continuity

Outcomes:
1. Understand the development of the slope of a tangent line from the slope of a secant line
2. Find the equations of the tangent line and normal lines at a given point

Lesson 4: Rates of Change, Tangent and Secant Lines

In terms of speed, we learned in Lesson 1 that

∆𝑦 𝑓(𝑡 + ℎ) − 𝑓(𝑡)
𝐼𝑓 𝑦 = 𝑓(𝑡), 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐀𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐝 = =
∆𝑡 ℎ
Hence, the formula for average rate of change must be:
∆𝑦 𝑓(𝑥 + ℎ) − 𝑓(𝑥)
𝐼𝑓 𝑦 = 𝑓(𝑥), 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐀𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 = =
∆𝑥 ℎ

Solving for f(x) at the endpoints of the interval:

• 𝑓(1) = 𝑥 3 − 𝑥 = 13 − 1 = 0
• 𝑓(3) = 33 − 3 = 27 − 3 = 24
Using the formula for average rate of change:
∆𝑦 𝑓(𝑥 + ℎ) − 𝑓(𝑥)
𝐀𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 = =
∆𝑥 ℎ
𝑓(3) − 𝑓(1)
=
3−1
24 − 0
=
2
24
=
2
= 12
AVERAGE RATE OF CHANGE using SLOPE OF A SECANT TO THE CURVE
A line through two points on a curve is a secant to the curve. Note that solving for
the slope of the secant to the curve means solving for the average rate of change.

Page 1 Calculus 12 Unit 1 Chapter 1 Lesson 4 Merden C. Largo-Bryant

Experimental biologists often want to know the rates at which populations grow under
controlled laboratory conditions. The graph below shows how the number of fruit flies
(Drosophila) grew in a controlled 50-day experiment. The graph was made by counting
flies at regular intervals, plotting a point for each count, and drawing a smooth curve
through the plotted points.

From the example, we can always think of an average rate of change as the slope of a
secant line.

In addition to knowing the average rate at which the population grew from day 23 to
day 45, we may also want to know how fast the population was growing on day 23 itself.
To find out, we can watch the slope of the secant PQ change as we back Q along the curve
toward P. The results for four positions of Q are shown in the next graph.

Page 2 Calculus 12 Unit 1 Chapter 1 Lesson 4 Merden C. Largo-Bryant

From this example, we have learned the following:
• Average rate of change is the same as finding the slope of a secant to the curve.
• Instantaneous rate of change is the same as finding the slope of a tangent to a curve.

Page 3 Calculus 12 Unit 1 Chapter 1 Lesson 4 Merden C. Largo-Bryant

Note that 𝑃(2, 4) comes from 𝑃(𝑥, 𝑦) = (𝑥, 𝑥 2 ) = (2, 22 ) = (2, 4). So, if we would like to
look for an arbitrary point 𝑄 with 𝑥-value ℎ higher than 2 of 𝑃(2, 4), we have, 𝑄(2 + ℎ, 𝑦).
Because 𝑦 = 𝑥 2 , the arbitrary point 𝑄(2 + ℎ, 𝑦) must be 𝑄(2 + ℎ, (2 + ℎ)2 )

Page 4 Calculus 12 Unit 1 Chapter 1 Lesson 4 Merden C. Largo-Bryant

Page 5 Calculus 12 Unit 1 Chapter 1 Lesson 4 Merden C. Largo-Bryant
 1 𝑎−𝑎−ℎ
= lim ∙
ℎ→0 ℎ 𝑎(𝑎 + ℎ)

Page 6 Calculus 12 Unit 1 Chapter 1 Lesson 4 Merden C. Largo-Bryant

NOTE: When analytic geometry was developed in the seventeenth century, European scientists still
wrote about their work and ideas in Latin, the one language that all educated Europeans could read and
understand. The Latin word normalis, which scholars used for perpendicular, became normal when they
discussed geometry in English.

In geometry and in algebra we have learned that the slope of perpendicular lines are negative reciprocals
of each other. That is, if the slope of the tangent line is 𝑚, then the slope of the line perpendicular to it
1 𝑎
(normal line in calculus) is − . Therefore, in calculus, if the slope of the slope of the tangent line is
𝑚 𝑏
𝑏
then the slope of its normal line at the point of tangency is − 𝑎.

Point-Slope Form
Equation of a Line:
𝑦 − 𝑦1 = 𝑚(𝑥 − 𝑥1 )
where slope is 𝑚 and
point is (𝑥1 , 𝑦1 )

Page 7 Calculus 12 Unit 1 Chapter 1 Lesson 4 Merden C. Largo-Bryant

NAME: ___________________ CLASS: _____________ SCORE: ____________

EXERCISE NO.4 Rates of Change, Tangent and Secant Lines

Page 8 Calculus 12 Unit 1 Chapter 1 Lesson 4 Merden C. Largo-Bryant

 Equation for
Free Fall:
𝑦 = 16𝑡 2

Page 9 Calculus 12 Unit 1 Chapter 1 Lesson 4 Merden C. Largo-Bryant

I.

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Page 11 Calculus 12 Unit 1 Chapter 1 Lesson 4 Merden C. Largo-Bryant