245,068 views
30 votes
30 votes
Find the slope of the graph of the function at the given point.

Find the slope of the graph of the function at the given point.-example-1
User Niek Jannink
by
3.2k points

1 Answer

5 votes
5 votes
Step-by-step explanation:

Consider the following function:


f(x)=\text{ }\tan(x)\text{ cot\lparen x\rparen}

First, let's find the derivative of this function. For this, we will apply the product rule for derivatives:


(df(x))/(dx)=\tan(x)\cdot(d)/(dx)\text{ cot\lparen x\rparen + }(d)/(dx)\text{ tan\lparen x\rparen }\cdot\text{ cot\lparen x\rparen}

this is equivalent to:


(df(x))/(dx)=\tan(x)\cdot(\text{ - csc}^2\text{\lparen x\rparen})\text{+ \lparen sec}^2(x)\text{\rparen}\cdot\text{ cot\lparen x\rparen}

or


(df(x))/(dx)=\text{ -}\tan(x)\cdot\text{ csc}^2\text{\lparen x\rparen+ sec}^2(x)\cdot\text{ cot\lparen x\rparen}

now, this is equivalent to:


(df(x))/(dx)=\text{ -2 csc \lparen2x\rparen + 2 csc\lparen2x\rparen = 0}

thus,


(df(x))/(dx)=0

Now, to find the slope of the function f(x) at the point (x,y) = (1,1), lug the x-coordinate of the given point into the derivative (this is the slope of the function at the point):


(df(1))/(dx)=0

Notice that this slope matches the slope found on the graph of the function f(x), because horizontal lines have a slope 0:

We can conclude that the correct answer is:

Answer:

The slope of the graph f(x) at the point (1,1) is


0

Find the slope of the graph of the function at the given point.-example-1
User Wow
by
2.8k points
Welcome to QAmmunity.org, where you can ask questions and receive answers from other members of our community.