RECAP

In Module 2 of this course you were introduced to the concept of the Limit of
a function and the notion of continuity of functions. A function was defined to
be continuous at a point x = a if the following limit exists;limx→a f (x) = f (a).
We look at the definition of the gradient function as a limit.

1 The slope function

In this section you are introduced to the notion of the tangent line to a curve
and how to find the slope of a function by defining the gradient of the tangent
line What is the motivation? Two classical problems gave rise to the notion of
the rate of change: The tangent to a curve and the instantaneous velocity of a
moving object.

y2 −y1 △y
1. Gradient of tangent line to a curve is defined by ; x2 −x1 = △x

2. Average velocity v or rate of travel over a distance s in time t elapsed is

given by: v = △s
△t
Note: Finding average rates of change for physical phenomena is important
in predicting behavioural change
Example 1. Find an equation of the tangent line to the parabola y = x2 at the
point P (1, 1).

Solution
Recall the equation of a line y = mx + c the constant m is the slope of the
function. In this case the difficulty is that we know only one point P whereas
we need two points to compute the slope. Observe that we can compute an ap-
proximation to m by choosing a nearby point Q(x, x2 ) on the parabola as shown
below and computing the slope of the secant line P Q.
We choose x ̸= 1 so that Q ̸= P .

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 x2 −1
mP Q = x−1

Take arbitrary values of x closer to 1 and calculate mP Q

x 0 0.5 0.9 0.99 0.999 1.001 1.01 1.1 1.5 2

mP Q 1 1.5 1.9 1.99 1.999 2.001 2.01 2.1 2.5 3
We say that the slope of the tangent line is limit of the slopes of the secant lines
2
−1
and we write: limQ→P mP Q = m and limx→1 xx−1 =2

Example 2. Many functions that occur in sciences are defined implicitly by

experimental data. In this example we show how to estimate the gradient of the
tangent line to the graph of such a function.
Using the given data and and computer algebra systems plot the given data ,
locate the point P draw a tangent line to the curve at P also an arbitrary se-
cant line through P passing through R and find mP R . Another estimate of the
gradient can be obtained by drawing a right angled triangle with the tangent line
as the hypotenuse as shown in the figure below, find the lengths |AB| and |BC|
the gradient of the tangent line is estimated by −|AB|
|BC| .
The averages of the two closest secants is an estimate of the tangent line.

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 NOTE:The slope of the curve y = f (x) at the point P (x◦ , f (x◦) ) is the
number
m = limh→0 f (x◦ +h)−f
h
(x◦
(provided the limit exists)
The tangent line to the curve at P is the line through P with this slope
1
Example 3. Find the slope of the curve y = x at x = a

Solution
Here f (x) = x1 . We find the slope at (a, a1 ) and is given by;
1 1
f (a+h)−f (a a+h − a
= limh→0 h = h
a−(a+h
= limh→0 a(a+h)h
−1
= limh→0 a(a+h) = ; substituting h = 0 we obtain
m = −1
a2

2 The derivative
In this section, you are introduced to the the slope of the tangent line to the
curve f (x) at a point a. This value is called the derivative of the function at a
Definition 1. Supposef (x) is defined on an open interval containing a, the
derivative of the function f at the number a is defined by
′
f (a) = limh→0 f (a+h)−f
h
(a

′ ′ ′
Example 4. Let f (x) = x2 + 5x. Find f (a), f (2) and f (−1)

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Solution.
′ f (a + h) − f (a)
f (a) = lim
h→0 h
= (a + h)2 + 5(a + h) − (a2 + 5a)
= lim
h→0 h
expanding the function we obtain limh→0 (2a + h + 5 substituting h = 0 we get
′
f (a) = 2a + 5
′ ′
Substituting a = 2 and a = −1 we obtain f (2) = 9 and f (−1) = 3
Note that the equation of the tangent line to the graph of a function at the
point (a, f (a)) is given by:
′
(y − f (a)) = f (a)(x − a)
In the example above the equation of the tangent line to the graph y = x2 + 5x
′
at the point x = −1 is (y − f (−1)) = f (−1)(x − (−1)) ⇒ y + 4 = 3(x + 1) is
the equation of the tangent line.
Definition 2. The derivative of a function f is another function f ′ (read as
”f prime”) defined by

f (x + h) − f (x)
f ′ (x) = lim
h→0 h
at all points x for which the limit exists (i.e., is a finite real number). If f ′ (x)
exists, we say that f is differentiable at x otherwise, it is said to be non-
differentiable at x.
Note that the domain of f ′ is the subset of dom(f ) where f ′ is defined. That
is, The domain of the derivative f ′ is the set of numbers x in the domain of f
where the graph of f has a non-vertical tangent line. Dom(f ′ ) of f ′ may be
smaller than dom(f ) because it contains only those points in dom(f ) at which
f is differentiable. Values of x in dom(f ) where f is not differentiable and that
are not endpoints of dom(f ) are singular points of f .
The value of the derivative of f at a particular point x0 can be expressed as a
limit in either of two ways:

f (x0 + h) − f (x0 ) f (x) − f (x0 )

f ′ (x0 ) = lim = lim .
h→0 h x→x0 x − x0
In the second limit x0 + h is replaced by x, so that h = x − x0 and h → 0
is equivalent to x → x0 . We have defined differentiability of a function f (x)
at x0 in terms of a limit. If this limit does not exists, then we said that f is
non-differentiable at x = x0 . Geometrically, the non-differentiability of f at
x = x0 can manifest itself in several different ways. First of all, the graph of
f (x) could have no tangent line at x = x0 . Secondly, the graph could have a
vertical tangent line at x = x0 .
Closely related to the concept of differentiability is the concept of continuity.
Note that every differentiable function at x = a is continuous there. However,

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a function may be continuous at x = a but still not be differentiable there. For
instance, the absolute value function f (x) = |x| is continuous on R but not
differentiable at x = 0.

3 Rates of Change
In this section you are introduced to practical life problems involving gradients
of tangent line to a curve and it’s application in solving rates of change problems
Here we are going to consider a function f (x), that represents some quantity
that varies as x varies. For instance, f (x) represents the amount of water in a
holding tank after x minutes. Or maybe f (x) is the distance traveled by a car
after x hours. In both of these example we used x to represent time. Of course
x doesn’t have to represent time, but it makes for examples that are easy to
visualize.
What we want to do here is determine just how fast f (x) is changing at some
point, say x = a. This is called the instantaneous rate of change or sometimes
just rate of change of f (x) at x = a.
To compute the average rate of change of a function f (x) at x = a, all we
need is to do is to choose another point, say x, and then the average rate of
change will be,
Average Rate of Change= change in f (x)
change in x =
f (x)−f (a)
x−a .

For instance, the average rate of change in a quantity over a period of

time is the amount of change divided by the time it takes. For instance, av-
erage speed is distance traveled divided by the elapsed time, say, in km/hour,etc.

Definition 3. The average rate of change (AVR) of a function f on an interval

I = [x0 , x1 ] is represented geometrically by the slope of the secant line to the
graph of f .
That is,
f (x1 ) − f (x0 )
Average rate of change msec = .
x1 − x0
Definition 4. The instantaneous rate of change (IR) of a function f at a
particular point x0 is represented geometrically by the slope of the tangent line
to the graph of f at that point.
That is,
f (x1 ) − f (x0 )
Instantanous rate of change mtan = lim x1 → x0 .
x1 − x0
We have defined the derivative of y = f (x) with respect to x at x = a as
the limit of the average rates of change over smaller and smaller intervals. If
the interval is [x1 , x2 ], then the change is x is △x = x2 − [x1 , the corresponding
change in y is

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 △y = f ([x2 ) − f ([x1 ) and
△y
instantaneous rate of change = lim△x→0 △x = limx2 →x1 f (xx22)−f (x1 )
−[x1
The derivative f ′ (a) is the instantaneous rate of change of y = f (x) with respect
to x when x = a
Note if we sketch the curve y = f (x), the instantaneous rate of change is the
slope of the tangent to the curve at the point. This means that the curve is
steep at the point where the derivative is large and the y−values change rapidly.
The curve is relatively flat when the is relatively flat and the y-values change
slowly.
Example 5. Suppose that a ball is dropped from the upper observation deck of
a tower, 450m above the ground and the equation of motion is f (t) = 4.9t2 .

(a) What is the velocity of the ball after 5 seconds?

(b) How fast is the ball traveling when it hits the ground?

Solution
Velocity v(t) at time t is the derivative of the position s(t) at time t v)(t) =
2 2
limh→0 f (t+h)−f
h
(t)
= limh→0 4.9(t+h)h −4.9t
= limh→0 4.9(2a + h) = 9.8a
v(5) = (9.8)(5) = 49m/s. Since the observation deck is 450m above the ground,
the ball will hit the ground at time t1 , when s(t1 ) = 450 = 4.9(t1 )2 , solving for
t1 , then find v(t1 )
Example 6. manufacturer produces bolts of a fabric with a fixed width. The
cost of producing x yards of this fabric is C = f (x) dollars.

(a) What is the meaning of the derivative f ′ (x)? What are its units
(b) In practical terms, what does it mean to say that f ′ (1000) = 9?
(c) Which do you think is greater , f ′ (50) or f ′ (500)? What about f ′ (5000)?

Solution
(a) The derivative f ′ (x) is the instantaneous rate of change of C with respect
to x; that is f ′ (x) is the rate of change of the production with respect to
the number of yards produced.The units for f ′ (x) are in dollars per yard.

(b) f ′ (1000) = 9 means that, after 1000 yards the production cost is increasing
9 dollars per yard. It will cost 9 dollars to produce the 1001st yard.
(c) Because of the economies of scale, f ′ (50) > f ′ (500), but as the production
expands, the resulting large-scale operation my become inefficient and there
might be overtime costs. Therefore f ′ (5000) > f ′ (500)

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Example 7. Let f : R −→ R be the function defined by y = f (x) = x2 − 3.
(a). Find the average rate of change of y with respect to x over the interval
[0, 2].
(b). Find the instantaneous rate of change of y with respect to x at the point
x = −1.

Solution
(a). Applying the formula for average rate of change with f (x) = x2 − 3 and
x0 = 0 and x1 = 2 yields

f (x1 ) − f (x0 ) f (2) − f (0) f 1 − (−3)

msec = = = = 2.
x1 − x0 2−0 2
This means that the average rate of change over the interval [0, 2] is 2 units of
increase in y for each unit of increase in x.
2
−3−(−1)2 −3
(b). Here mtan = lim h → 0 f (x0 +h)−f
h
(x0 )
= lim h → 0 (−1+h) h =
2
lim h → 0 −2h+h
h = −2.

This means that the instantaneous rate of change at x = −1 is negative, which

mens that y is decreasing at x = −1. It is decreasing at a rate of 2 units in y
for each unit of increase in x.
Example 8. Suppose that the amount of air in a balloon after t hours is given
by the formula V (t) = t3 − 6t2 + 35. Estimate the instantaneous rate of change
of the volume after 5 hours.

Solution
change in V (t) V (t))−V (0) t3 −6t2 +35−10 t3 −6t2 +25
Average Rate of Change= change in t = t−5 = t−5 = t−5 (∗).

To estimate the instantaneous rate of change of the volume at time t = 5 we

just need to pick values of t that are getting closer and closer to t = 5.
t A.R.C t A.R.C
6 25.0 4 7.0
5.5 19.75 4.5 10.75
5.1 15.91 4.9 14.11
5.01 15.0901 4.99 14.9101
5.001 15.009001 4.999 14.991001
5.0001 15.00090001 4.9999 14.99910001
So, from this table it looks like the average rate of change is approaching 15
and so we can estimate that the instantaneous rate of change is 15 at this point.
From this estimate, we see that t = 5, the volume is changing at a rate of
15 cm3/hr. This means that at t = 5 the volume is changing in such a way
that, if the rate were constant, then an hour later there would be 15 cm3 more

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air in the balloon than there was at t = 5.

Remark. This exact value can be obtained by taking the limit of the average
rate of change in (*) as t approaches 5.
That is IR = limt→0 V (t))−V
t−5
(0)

t3 −6t2 +25 (t−5)(t2 −t−5)

=limt→0 t−5 = limt→0 (t−5) = limt→0 (t2 − t − 5) = 15.

Example 9. The population(in hundreds) of fish in a pond is given by P (t) =

2t + sin(2t − 10). Compute(accurate to at least 8 decimal places) the average
rate of change of the population of fish between t = 5 and the following values
of t.(Make sure your calculator is set to radians for the computations).

(a). (i). 5.5

(ii). 5.1
(iii). 5.01
(iv). 5.001
(v). 5.0001

(b). (i). 4.5

(ii). 4.9
(iii). 4.99
(iv). 4.999
(v). 4.9999

(c). Use your information from (a) and (b) to estimate the instantaneous
rate of change of the population of the fish at t = 5.