Q. For the function f(x)=x2+4x−1, find the slope of the secant line between x=−3 and x=−1.Answer:
Slope Formula: 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). This is given by x2−x1f(x2)−f(x1), where x1 and x2 are the x-values of the two points.
Find y for x=−3: First, we need to find the y-value for x=−3 by substituting −3 into the function f(x)=x2+4x−1. This gives us f(−3)=(−3)2+4(−3)−1=9−12−1=−4.
Find y for x=−1: Next, we need to find the y-value for x=−1 by substituting −1 into the function f(x)=x2+4x−1. This gives us f(−1)=(−1)2+4(−1)−1=1−4−1=−4.
Identify Two Points: Now we have the two points on the function: (−3,f(−3))=(−3,−4) and (−1,f(−1))=(−1,−4). We can see that the y-values for both points are the same, which means the slope of the secant line is 0 because there is no change in y.
Calculate Slope: The slope of the secant line is therefore (f(−1)−f(−3))/(−1−(−3))=(−4−(−4))/(−1+3)=0/2=0.