Q. For the function f(x)=−x2−2x+5, find the slope of the secant line between x=−4 and x=2.Answer:
Calculate y-value for x = −4: To find the slope of the secant line between two points on a function, we use the formula for slope, which is the change in y-values divided by the change in x-values. This is given by the formula (f(x2)−f(x1))/(x2−x1), where x1 and x2 are the x-values of the two points.
Calculate y-value for x = 2: First, we need to find the y-value for x=−4 by substituting −4 into the function f(x)=−x2−2x+5. This gives us f(−4)=−(−4)2−2(−4)+5.
Find slope using y-values: Calculating f(−4) gives us f(−4)=−(16)+8+5=−16+8+5=−8+5=−3.
Identify horizontal secant line: Next, we need to find the y-value for x=2 by substituting 2 into the function f(x)=−x2−2x+5. This gives us f(2)=−(2)2−2(2)+5.
Determine slope of horizontal line: Calculating f(2) gives us f(2)=−(4)−4+5=−4−4+5=−8+5=−3.
Determine slope of horizontal line: Calculating f(2) gives us f(2)=−(4)−4+5=−4−4+5=−8+5=−3.Now we have both y-values: f(−4)=−3 and f(2)=−3. We can use these to find the slope of the secant line. However, we notice that the y-values are the same, which means the secant line is horizontal.
Determine slope of horizontal line: Calculating f(2) gives us f(2)=−(4)−4+5=−4−4+5=−8+5=−3.Now we have both y-values: f(−4)=−3 and f(2)=−3. We can use these to find the slope of the secant line. However, we notice that the y-values are the same, which means the secant line is horizontal.The slope of a horizontal line is 0. Therefore, the slope of the secant line between x=−4 and x=2 for the function f(x) is 0.
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