The derivative as the slope of the

tangent line

(at a
point)
 What is a derivative?

• A function
• the rate of change of a function
• the slope of the line tangent to
the curve
The tangent line

single point
of intersection
 slope of a secant line

f(a) - f(x)
a-x

f(x)

f(a)
x a
slope of a (closer) secant line

f(a) - f(x)
a-x

f(x)

f(a)
x x a
closer and closer…

a
watch the slope...
 watch what x does...

x a
The slope of the secant line gets closer and closer to
the slope of the tangent line...
As the values of x get closer and closer to a!

x a
 The slope of the secant lines
gets closer
to the slope of the tangent line...

...as the values of x

get closer to a

Translates to….
 lim f(x) - f(a)
x a x-a
as x goes to a
Equation for the slope

Which gives us the the exact slope

of the line tangent to the curve at a!
 similarly...

f(x+h) - f(x)
(x+h) - x

= f(x+h) - f(x)
h

f(a+h)
h

f(a)
a+h a
(For this particular curve, h is a negative value)
 thus...

lim f(a+h) - f(a)

h 0
h

AND

lim f(x) - f(a)

x a
x-a

Give us a way to calculate the slope of the line tangent at a!

Which one should I use?

(doesn’t really matter)

 A VERY simple example...
y  x2

y  x2

want the slope

where a=2
 f ( x)  f (a) x2  a2 ( x  a)( x  a)
lim  lim  lim
xa xa xa

 lim( x  a )  lim( x  2)  4

as x a=2
 f ( x  h)  f ( x ) ( x  h) 2  x 2
lim  lim
h h

x  2 xh  h  x
2 2 2
h( 2 x  h)
 lim  lim
h h

 lim(2 x  h)  4

As h 0
 back to our example...
y  x2

y  x2

When a=2,
the slope is 4
 in conclusion...
• The derivative is the the slope of the line
tangent to the curve (evaluated at a point)
• it is a limit (2 ways to define it)
• once you learn the rules of derivatives, you
WILL forget these limit definitions
• cool site to go to for additional
explanations:http://archives.math.utk.edu/visual.calculus/2/