Q. For the function f(x)=x2−7, find the slope of the secant line between x=−6 and x=−4.Answer:
Calculate Y-Values: 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 the formula (f(x2)−f(x1))/(x2−x1), where x1 and x2 are the x-values of the two points.
Find Two Points: First, we need to find the y-values for the points where x=−6 and x=−4 by plugging these x-values into the function f(x)=x2−7. For x=−6: f(−6)=(−6)2−7=36−7=29. For x=−4: f(−4)=(−4)2−7=16−7=9.
Calculate Slope: Now we have two points: (−6,29) and (−4,9). We can use these points to find the slope of the secant line.Slope = (f(−4)−f(−6))/(−4−(−6))=(9−29)/(−4+6)=(−20)/2=−10.
Final Result: The slope of the secant line between x=−6 and x=−4 for the function f(x)=x2−7 is −10.
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