Arkansas Tech University

MATH 2914: Calculus I

Dr. Marcel B. Finan
10 The Derivative at a Point
In this section we introduce the denition of the derivative and its geometrical
signicance.
In Section 9, we dened the instantaneous rate of change of a function f(x)
at a point x = a to be the value that the dierence quotient or the average
rate of change
f(a + h) f(a)
h
approaches over smaller and smaller intervals(i.e. when h 0). This instan-
taneous rate of change is called the derivative of f(x) with respect to x
at x = a and will be denoted by f

(a). Thus,
f

(a) = lim
h0
f(a + h) f(a)
h
.
If this limit exists then we say that f is dierentiable at a. To dier-
entiate a function f(x) at x = a means to nd its derivative at the point
(a, f(a)). The process of nding the derivative of a function is known as
dierentiation.
Example 10.1
Use the denition of the derivative to nd f

(x) where f(x) =

x, x > 0.
Solution.
f

(x) = lim
h0
f(x + h) f(x)
h
= lim
h0

x + h

x
h
= lim
h0

x + h

x
h

x + h +

x + h +

= lim
h0
x + h x
h(

x + h +

x)
= lim
h0
1

x + h +

x
=
1
2

x
1
Going back to Figure 9.2 of Section 9, we conclude that the number f

(a) is
the slope of the tangent line to the graph of f(x) at the point (a, f(a)). The
equation of the tangent line to the graph of f(x) at x = a is then given by
the formula
y f(a) = f

(a)(x a).
The equation of the normal line to the graph of f(x) at x = a is given by
y f(a) =
1
f

(a)
(x a),
assuming that f

(a) = 0.
Example 10.2
(i) Find the derivative of the function f(x) = x
2
at x = 1.
(ii) Write the equation of the tangent line to the graph of f at the point
(1, f(1)).
Solution.
(i)
f

(1) = lim
h0
f(1 + h) f(1)
h
= lim
h0
(1 + h)
2
1
h
= lim
h0
1 + 2h + h
2
1
h
= lim
h0
h(2 + h)
h
= lim
h0
(2 + h) = 2.
(ii) The equation of the tangent line is given by
y f(1) = f

(1)(x 1)
or in slope-intercept form
y = 2x 1
Example 10.3
Find the equation of the line that is perpendicular to the tangent line to
f(x) = x
2
at x = 1.
2
Solution.
The equation of the line is given by
y = mx + b.
Since m f

(1) = 1 and f

(1) = 2, we nd m =
1
2
. Thus, y =
1
2
x + b.
Since the line crosses the point (1, 1), we have 1 =
1
2
+ b or b =
3
2
. Hence,
the equation of the normal line is
y =
1
2
x +
3
2
Remark 10.1
By letting x = a + h in the denition of f

(a) we obtain an alternative form

of f

(a) which is useful in computations and is given by

f

(a) = lim
xa
f(x) f(a)
x a
.
Example 10.4
Show that the derivative of f(x) = sin x at x = 0 is 1.
Solution.
Using the above remark and Example 7.1 of Section 7 we nd
f

(0) = lim
x0
f(x) f(0)
x 0
= lim
x0
sin x sin 0
x
= lim
x0
sin x
x
= 1
3