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Calculus Lesson-Introduction To Derivative: David Harry October 13, 2009

This document provides an introduction to derivatives. It begins by reminding the reader about slope and tangent lines. It explains that secant lines estimate slope at points on a curve, while tangent lines provide an exact slope. The definition of the derivative is presented as the limit of the difference quotient as h approaches 0. An example problem demonstrates finding the derivative of f(x)=x^2 at x=3, yielding a slope of 6. More practice problems apply the definition to find the slope at given points for various functions. The slopes calculated are: 12 at x=2 for f(x)=3x^2; 3 at x=1 for f(x)=x^3; 1 at x=3 for f(

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David Harry
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17 views

Calculus Lesson-Introduction To Derivative: David Harry October 13, 2009

This document provides an introduction to derivatives. It begins by reminding the reader about slope and tangent lines. It explains that secant lines estimate slope at points on a curve, while tangent lines provide an exact slope. The definition of the derivative is presented as the limit of the difference quotient as h approaches 0. An example problem demonstrates finding the derivative of f(x)=x^2 at x=3, yielding a slope of 6. More practice problems apply the definition to find the slope at given points for various functions. The slopes calculated are: 12 at x=2 for f(x)=3x^2; 3 at x=1 for f(x)=x^3; 1 at x=3 for f(

Uploaded by

David Harry
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Calculus LessonIntroduction to Derivative

David Harry
October 13, 2009

Reminder: Slope
Slope is rise over run between two points on a graph.

Formula:

y2 y1 m x2 x1

or the slope is the m of the equation y=mx+b

Practice with Game

Tangent-line that touches the graph at one point.

Reminder: Tangent vs. Secant

Secant- a line that passes through the graph and touches it at 2 points, (x,f(x)) and (x+h, f(x+h))

Importance of Tangent vs. Secant


To find the slope of a function that is not a straight line (i.e. a curve) we must estimate with a secant line.

Eventually we will learn to change secant line into tangent line making our estimate an exact result.
Example

*do some examples on the board with secant lines

Definition of the derivative


f (x h) f (x) f '(x) lim h 0 h
This is the formula we will use

Example using definition


9 6h h 9 lim f (x h) f (x) h 0 h f '(x) lim h 0 h 6h h 2 h(6 h) lim h h (6 h) f (3 h) f (3) , f (x) x 2 h 0 lim h 0 h lim(6 h) (6 0) 6
2

Using f(x)=x^2, find the slope at x=3

(3 h) 2 (3) 2 lim h 0 h

h 0

Therefore m=6 at x=3 of f(x)=x^2

More examples
Use the definition of the derivative to do these problems

1)x 2, f (x) 3x
3

2)x 1, f (x) x 3)x 3, f (x) x 3 4) 4, f (x) x 5x


2

Answers
1) m=12 at x=2 2) m=3 at x=1 3) m=1 at x=3 4) m=13 at x=4
M=3

Graphic example of number 2

Recap
Video

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