Final answer:
The slope of the tangent line at a specific point is found by evaluating the derivative of the function at that point. The slope of the normal line is the negative reciprocal of the slope of the tangent line.
Step-by-step explanation:
To find the slope of the tangent line to a function at a specific point, we need to differentiate the function and evaluate the derivative at that point. For the normal line, the slope will be the negative reciprocal of the slope of the tangent line if the slope of the tangent is not zero. Let's imagine the function is given, and we have already calculated the slope of the tangent line to be 1.0 m/s2 at x = 1/2.
To find the slope of the normal line at the same point, we take the negative reciprocal of the tangent line's slope. If the slope of the tangent line is a = 1.0 m/s2, then the slope of the normal line would be -1/a, making it -1.0 m/s2 at x = 1/2.