Q. For the function f(x)=x2−11, find the slope of the tangent line at x=12.Answer:
Calculate Derivative: To find the slope of the tangent line at a specific point on the graph of a function, we need to calculate the derivative of the function at that point. The derivative of a function at a point gives us the slope of the tangent line to the function at that point.
Apply Power Rule: The function given is f(x)=x2−11. To find the derivative of this function, we use the power rule, which states that the derivative of xn is n⋅x(n−1). So, the derivative of x2 is 2⋅x(2−1)=2x.
Evaluate Derivative at x=12: Now we need to evaluate the derivative at x=12 to find the slope of the tangent line at that point. We substitute x with 12 in the derivative we found, which is 2x. So, the slope at x=12 is 2×12.
Calculate Slope at x=12: Calculating the slope at x=12 gives us 2×12=24. Therefore, the slope of the tangent line to the function f(x)=x2−11 at x=12 is 24.
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