INSTRUCTOR NOTE:

The references in the course notes to “Sections” refers to the sections number of the
text Calculus (Early Transcendentals) (Ninth Edition), by James Stewart. However,
the definitions, theorems, examples, etcetera, are numbered according to where they
occur in the course note, not as a reference to the text. When an example is taken
from the text it is identified by its WebAssign Question ID.

In this class you are expected to add student active learning into your “lecture.”
The course notes include ACTIVITY ideas. Instructors are not expected to use all
the activity ideas given (there is not enough time), but instructors should include
some (or create their own). These ideas decrease as we move through the material,
and the instructor should develop their own ideas for activities.

When an example has a WebAssign identification on it, then it is part of students’

homework assignment. The numbers in red on WebAssign are randomized, so all
student may not have the exact same problem. You want to touch on, if not com-
plete, most examples in class. When looking at the homework list, keep in mind
that a portion of the problems are done in class, which keeps the homework from
being as overwhelming as it might appear. Time will sometimes be an issue in class,
though, so when preparing look at the WebAssign problems and consider when you
could just give students an idea about solving an example and leave it as home-
work.

Preparation Assignments will begin with Section 2.5 of the text.

Cover what you have time for from this section in the first class. This is an intro-
duction to give students an idea of what some of the applications will be. It does
not have to be covered completely or thoroughly. You will revisit these topics later
in detail.

1. Section 2.1: Tangent Line to a Curve (In Class)

Definition 1.1. The line tangent to a curve at a point is the line that “best ap-
proximates” the curve at that point.

INSTRUCTOR NOTE: Draw a curve where the tangent line touches two times
(poly with a couple extrema works) and one where the tangent line goes through
(y = x3 at (0, 0) works). Students have often heard the tangent line is the line that
just “touches” and the line that only intersects the curve one time.

ACTIVITY: Many students already have an idea of what a tangent line should
look like, but how to describe it in words is not as easy. You could ask students to
1
 2.1 Introduction to Some Key Concepts 2

sketch the tangent line of graphs you give them (see Instructor Note above) before
you define this. Then use a few of the students’ examples to generate a discussion
of how to define the tangent line. Alternatively, ask students how they might define
a tangent line before anything else. You may get “goes through at one point,” or
“touches but does not cross,” and then you can use the prior examples to ask the
students to refine their definitions. You may also get “its slope is the derivative,” to
which you can ask what a derivative is. The discussion of these ideas and why we
are studying calculus is really more important at this stage than getting the exam-
ples below done.

√
Example 1.1. The point P (−2, 2) lies on the curve y = 2 − x.

(1) Sketch the curve and the tangent line at P .

√
(2) If Q is the point (x, 2 − x), find the slope of the secant line P Q (correct to
six decimal places) for the following values of x:

(i) −2.5 (ii) −2.1 (iii) −2.01 (iv) −2.001

(v) −1.5 (vi) −1.9 (vii) −1.99 (viii) −1.999

Solution √
x 2−x msec
(i) −2.5 2.121320344 −0.242641
(ii) −2.1 2.024845673 −0.248457
(iii) −2.01 2.002498439 −0.249844
(iv) −2.001 2.000249984 −0.249984
(v) −1.5 1.870828693 −0.251582
(vi) −1.9 1.974841766 −0.258343
(vii) −1.99 1.997498436 −0.250156
(viii) −1.999 1.999749984 −0.250016
INSTRUCTOR NOTE: Use a few lines to illustrate how the computa-
tions in the columns are done.
 2.1 Introduction to Some Key Concepts 3

(3) Using the results of part 2, guess the value of the slope of the tangent line to
the curve at P (−2, 2).
ANSWER: mtan = −0.25

(4) Using the slope from part 3, find an equation of the line tangent to the curve
at P (−2, 2).
ANSWER: y = − 41 x + 32
 2.1 Introduction to Some Key Concepts 4

2. Velocity

Definition 2.1. The average velocity of an object over a given interval of time is
the change in the position divided by the change in time.

∆s s(t2 ) − s(t1 )
vave = =
∆t t2 − t1

Definition 2.2. The instantaneous velocity of an object at a given time, t = a,

is the limiting value of the average velocity over the time interval from t to a as t
approaches a.

Example 2.1. If a rock is thrown upward on the planet Mars with an initial veloc-
ity of 10 m/s, its height (in meters) t seconds later is given by y = 10t − 1.86t2 .

(1) Find the average velocity over the given time intervals:

(i) [1, 2] (ii) [1, 1.5] (iii) [1, 1.1]

(iv) [1, 1.01] (v) [1, 1.001]

Solution
t 10t − 1.86t2 vave over [1, t]
(i) 2 12.56 4.42
(ii) 1.5 10.815 5.35
(iii) 1.1 8.7494 6.094
(iv) 1.01 8.202614 6.2614
(v) 1.001 8.14627814 6.27814

(2) Estimate the instantaneous velocity when t = 1.

ANSWER: Estimated to one decimal place v(1) ≈ 6.3.