Q. For the function f(x)=x2+3, find the slope of the secant line between x=2 and x=4.Answer:
Average Rate of Change Formula: To find the slope of the secant line between two points on a curve, we use the average rate of change formula, which is the difference in the y-values divided by the difference in the x-values. This is similar to the slope formula for a line, x2−x1y2−y1.
Find Y-Values: First, we need to find the y-values for x=2 and x=4 by plugging these x-values into the function f(x)=x2+3. For x=2: f(2)=(2)2+3=4+3=7. For x=4: f(4)=(4)2+3=16+3=19.
Calculate Slope: Now we have two points on the curve: (2,7) and (4,19). We can use these points to find the slope of the secant line.Slope = (f(4)−f(2))/(4−2)=(19−7)/(4−2).
Final Result: Calculate the slope: (19−7)/(4−2)=12/2=6. The slope of the secant line between x=2 and x=4 is 6.
More problems from Find the slope of a tangent line using limits