Calculus 1

Section 2.1

Tangent Lines and the Limit Definition of a Derivative

Rates of Change, Tangent Lines, and Secant Lines

Calculus studies primarily two topics: how to find the instantaneous rate of change of a function,
and how to find the area under the curve of a function. The first topic is the focus of this section, and
the second will be the focus of the next.

What is meant by "instantaneous rate of change"? Think back to the study of linear functions.
One of the defining characteristics of a line is the lines slope. The slope defines how quickly or slowly
the function changes with a given change in the independent variable. This is the the rate of change
of the function. So, how would one find the rate of change for a quadratic function? What about
an exponential function? Trigonometric? Although finding the rate of change for these functions is
possible, it is not as simple as taking rise over run.

The most significant difference between the rate of change for a linear function and the rate of
change for a nonlinear function is that the first is constant, while the latter is not. For example, con-
sider the function f (x) = x2 . For x < 0, as x increases by a certain amount, f (x) decreases. However,
for x > 0, as x increases by a certain amount, f (x) increases. Then, as x gets larger, the amount by
which f (x) increases also increases. This is not the way linear functions behave.

How, then, would one calculate the rate of change of f (x) at a point or over some interval? With
linear functions, the formula is xy22 y
x1 . If we tried this with f (x), we would get:
1

f (x2 ) f (x1 )
x2 x1
Pick some arbitrary values for x1 and x2 , such as 3 and 4. Then, f (3) = 9 and f (4) = 16. Plug
this into the formula and we get:
16 9 7
= =7
43 1
So is 7 the rate of change for f (x)? Lets try with different values for x. Let x1 = 5 and x2 = 7.
f (5) = 25 and f (7) = 49. Thus the formula gets us:
49 25 24
= = 12
75 2
So the rate of change for f (x), as mentioned before, is not constant. Thus, this formula cant
give the rate of change for f (x) since it varies. What this formula does give is the average rate of
change for f (x) over the interval between x1 and x2 . This interval can be abbreviate with the notation
[x1 , x2 ] which includes x1 and x2 or (x1 , x2 ) which excludes x1 and x2 .

If one were to draw a line through the points (x1 , f (x1 )) and (x2 , f (x2 )) in the xy-plane, the
slope of the line would be equal to the average rate of change of the function on the interval [x1 , x2 ].
This is because the slope of the line, would be calculated the same way as the average rate of change
of the function over this interval, since y1 = f (x1 ) and y2 = f (x2 ). Such a line is called a secant line
of f (x). For a visualization, refer to the graph on the next page which shows the secant line for f (x)
on the interval [x1 , x2 ].

1
 f(x)

Secant Line shows the

average rate of change of
f(x) on the interval (x1 , x2)

x`1 x`2

However, what if one wanted to know the rate of change at a specific point? For example, the
secant line shows the average rate of change over an interval [x1 , x2 ], but what about the exact rate
of change at x1 ? This is called the instantaneous rate of change. A line whose slope is equal to
the instantaneous rate of change of a function at a point is called a tangent line of the function. A
tangent line touches a function at one point without "crossing" the function. Rather, the function
peels away from the tangent line meeting only at the point whose instantaneous rate of change is the
slope of the tangent line. For a visualization, see the graph one the next page which shows the tangent
line for f (x) at x = x1 .

2
 f(x)

x`1 x`2
Tangent Line shows the instantaneous rate of
change of f(x) at x=x1. Notice the graph only
crosses the tangent line at x1.

However, how does one calculate the instantaneous rate of change at a point? If there is only
one point, how does the above formula, which requires two points, work?

Notice that the secant line approximates the tangent line. However, we can get a better approxi-
mation by taking a new value, x3 , that is closer to x1 than x2 . Then, the secant line will approach the
tangent line. The closer x3 is to x1 , the closer the tangent line will be to the secant line. To become
the tangent line, however, x3 needs to move infinitely close to x1 . This leads us into the discussion of
a derivative.

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Differentiation and The Limit Definition of a Derivative

The tangent line of a function gives the instantaneous rate of change of the function at a single
point. However, it is more useful to know a rule that gives the instantaneous rate of change of a func-
tion at any point. This is called the derivative of a function. The derivative of a function can also
be thought of as a formula for the steepness of the function (or, more exactly the functions tangent
line) at any value of x.

The to differentiate a function is to find the derivative of that function. Additionally, one must
take the derivative with respect to an independent variable. The derivative measures the rate of change
of a function for an infinitely small change in this variable.

There are several notations used to express the derivative of a function. For example:

f 0 (x)

is read "f prime of x", and means the derivative of f with respect to x. If y is a function of x, such
as y = x2 , then
dy
dx
is read "d-y d-x" (just the letters) and means the derivative of y with respect to x.

How does one find the derivative of a function? Recall that to find the tangent line at some
point, x1 , a secant line needed to be constructed between x1 and another point, x3 , and x3 needed to
be moved infinitely close to x1 . In general, we can say that for any x, we wish to construct a secant
line between x and a point x + x. Then, as x becomes very close to 0, x + x approaches x. The
slope of the secant line is found by the formula below

f (x + x) f (x) f (x + x) f (x)
=
x + x x x

Again, we want to make x as close to 0 as possible, but we cannot make it 0, as this would
require dividing by 0. What does this sound like? A limit! This brings up the limit definition of a
derivative:
f (x + x) f (x)
f 0 (x) = lim
x0 x

Because this definition is constructed from the geometric definition of instantaneous rate of
change, it will work for taking the derivate of any differentiable function (more on differentiability
later in this chapter). For a visualization of why this works, see the graph below.

4
 f(x)

{
x x+x
x

As x gets closer to 0, x+x gets closer to x and the

secant line becomes a tangent line. Thus, the
derivative for an arbitrary x is found.

5
 Lets try the limit definition of a derivative with the example weve been using, f (x) = x2 .
Remember, however, that x and x are placeholder variables, and we do not want to give them actual
values.
f (x + x) f (x) (x + x)2 (x)2
f 0 (x) = lim = lim
x0 x x0 x

After FOILing the first expression in the numerator we get:

x2 + 2xx + (x)2 x2 2xx + (x)2 x(2x + x)

f 0 (x) = lim = lim = lim
x0 x x0 x x0 x

Notice that since x 6= 0, and it only gets very close to 0, we can cancel x out of the numerator.

x(2x + x)
f 0 (x) = lim = lim (2x + x)
x0 x x0

And now this is a limit that can be evaluated by plugging in x = 0.

f 0 (x) = lim (2x + x) = 2x

x0

So, the derivative of f (x) = x2 is f 0 (x) = 2x. Another way to notate this is:

d 2
(x ) = 2x
dx
This means that at any arbitrary point c, the rate of change of the function x2 at c is found by
plugging taking 2c. Think about if this makes sense. For x < 0, the rate of change is negative since x2
decreases, and if x < 0 then 2x < 0. For x > 0, the rate of change is positive since x2 increases, and if
x > 0, then 2x > 0. At x = 0, the function is flat so the rate of change is 0. Indeed, 2 0 = 0. Also,
as x increases the function grows more quickly, and as x increases 2x increases. Thus, this makes sense.

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Estimating Derivatives from Points and Tables

Because the secant line is an approximation of the tangent line, one can estimate the derivative
of a function at a point given two points of the function. The function itself does not have to be given.
For example, if f (3) = 6 and f (4) = 8, then we know that the average rate of change over the interval
x = 3 to x = 4 is f (4)f
43
(3)
= 86 0
1 = 2. This is an approximation of f (3). It is important to realize
that this is not the same as the derivative at x = 3. However, if f (x) is not given, this is a good
approximation for f 0 (3).

If more points are given, it is possible to find a more accurate approximation. For example,
consider the table below.
x f (x)
3 8
5 12
6 18

f (5)f (3) 128

The average rate of change from x = 3 to x = 5 is 53 = 2 = 2. Then, the average rate
f (7)f (5) 1812
of change from x = 5 to x = 7 is 65 = 1 = 6. The exact rate of change at x = 5 will likely
be somewhere in between these values, so well average them to get a better approximation than either
value by itself. The average of 2 and 6 is 82 = 4. Thus, we say our approximation of f 0 (5) is 4.

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Examples

Here are a few examples to test the concepts provided in this section. Answers can be found on
the following pages.

1. Find the derivative of f (x) = 3x using the limit definition of a derivative.

2. Use the limit definition of a derivative to prove that if g(x) = af (x) for some constant a, then
g 0 (x) = af 0 (x).

3. Use the limit definition of a derivative to prove that if g(x) = f (x) + k for some constant k, then
g 0 (x) = f 0 (x).

4. Given the table below, find an approximation for f 0 (4).

x f (x)
1 10
4 7
6 1

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Solutions

These are the solutions to the questions on the previous page

1.
f (x + x) f (x) 3(x + x) 3x 3x + 3x 3x 3x
f 0 (x) = lim = lim = lim = lim =3
x0 x x0 x x0 x x0 x

This makes sense, because the rate of change of a line is always the slope of a line for all values
of the independent variable. And, since the line was f (x) = 3x, the slope is 3.

2.
g(x + x) g(x) af (x + x) af (x) a[f (x + x) f (x)]
g 0 (x) = lim = lim = lim
x0 x x0 x x0 x

At this step, remember that the limit of the product of two functions is equal to the product of
the limits of the functions separately. Thus, since the limit of a constant value is that constant
value (because a constant does not depend on the value of a variable):
f (x + x) f (x)
g 0 (x) = ( lim a) ( lim ) = af 0 (x)
x0 x0 x

Since the second limit is the limit definition of the derivative of f (x), weve shown that
g 0 (x) = af 0 (x).

3.
g(x + x) g(x) f (x + x) + k (f (x) + k) f (x + x) + k f (x) k
g 0 (x) = lim = lim = lim
x0 x x0 x x0 x

Notice that the k terms cancel, and then the limit becomes the limit definition of f 0 (x).

f (x + x) + k f (x) k f (x + x) f (x)
g 0 (x) = lim = lim = f 0 (x)
x0 x x0 x

This makes sense, because adding a constant to a function only translates that function up with-
out changing the functions shape. Without changing the shape, the rate of change or "steepness"
of the function cannot change, and thus adding a constant cannot change the derivative of a func-
tion.

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 f (4)f (1)
4. The average rate of change from x = 1 to x = 4 is 41 = 710
3 = 3
3 = 1. Then, the
f (6)f (4) 6
average rate of change from x = 4 to x = 6 is 64 = 17
= 2 2 = 3. Then, because
4 is
0
in between 1 and 6, well average these values to find an approximation of f (4). The average of
1 and 3 is 3+(1)
2 = 4 0
2 = 2. Thus, our approximation is f (6) 2.

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