Slope of a Curve
- Author:
- Jason Miner
Enter a function and drag the point P along the curve. Note how well the tangent line approximates the curve, but only for a small interval (local linearity). This illustrates why we define the slope of a curve at a point to be the slope of the tangent line to the curve at that point. What is the curve doing when the slope of the tangent line is positive or negative? Where is the slope of the tangent line zero?
To change the viewing window, hold the shift button and left-click to drag the graph or use the scroll wheel to zoom in/out. You can also adjust the axes by holding the shift button and left-click on the axis you want to change.