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34 votes
34 votes
Find the average rate of change for the following equation over the interval -4≤x≤1

y=x^2 + 4x -1

User Andez
by
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1 Answer

25 votes
25 votes

To find the average rate of change of a function over an interval, we need to calculate the slope of the secant line connecting the points on the function at the two endpoints of the interval.

The equation of a line in slope-intercept form is y = mx + b, where m is the slope of the line and b is the y-intercept. In the case of a secant line, we can calculate the slope by using the formula:

m = (y2 - y1) / (x2 - x1)

For the function y = x^2 + 4x - 1, we can plug in the values of x and y at the two endpoints of the interval, (-4 and 1), to find the slope of the secant line:

m = [(1)^2 + 4(1) - 1] - [(-4)^2 + 4(-4) - 1] / (1 - (-4))

Simplifying this expression, we get:

m = (1 + 4 - 1) - (16 + 16 - 1) / (-3)

This simplifies to:

m = -20 / -3

Therefore, the average rate of change of the function y = x^2 + 4x - 1 over the interval -4 ≤ x ≤ 1 is 6.5.

User Syed Osama Maruf
by
2.9k points
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