Q. For the function f(x)=x2−4, find the slope of the secant line between x=−4 and x=−1.Answer:
Formula for Slope: 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 divided by the change in x (rise over run). The slope of the secant line between two points (x1,f(x1)) and (x2,f(x2)) is given by x2−x1f(x2)−f(x1).
Find Y-Values: First, we need to find the y-values for the points where x=−4 and x=−1 by plugging these x-values into the function f(x)=x2−4. For x=−4: f(−4)=(−4)2−4=16−4=12. For x=−1: f(−1)=(−1)2−4=1−4=−3.
Calculate Slope: Now we have two points: Point A (−4,12) and Point B (−1,−3). We can use these points to calculate the slope of the secant line.Slope=x2−x1f(x2)−f(x1)=(−1−(−4))(−3−12)=(−1+4)(−3−12)=3(−15)=−5.
More problems from Find the slope of a tangent line using limits