If you are reading this then you want to know how to find the slope of a curve at any

given point. Sure at this point you are confident that you can find the slope of any
straight line given to you. But the problem is that we can not find the slope of a curve at
an exact point because the slope of a curve is constantly changing. Before getting
started, you need to know the following information which assumes you understand
these topics before learning this.

First you need to know that the slope of the curve()at a point 1 is equal to the
tangent line that goes through that same point 1 on the curve(). Sure you may
think this easy and you can find the slope of the tangent. But hold on because you cant
find the slope of the tangent because you only know one point on the line.

Tangent line: straight line that touches a function at one point and does not goes

through it.

Secant line: straight line that goes through two points on a function.

Slope Formula:

2 1 () 2 () 1
= =
2 1 2 1

Difference Quotient:

( + ) ()
=

To find the slope at a specific point there is this thing called the derivative
1
function (), which when you input some it outputs the slope of the function()at
2 1
that value. For example if () = 3 the derivative is () = 6 then at the
1
point(6,12) the slope of() is (6) = 36.

Now let me explain how to get the derivative function first let's consider a simple

parabola:

You know you can't find the slope of the

curve or the tangent line but if we were to

define another point on the curve(),

lets say 2 and make its value bigger

by then the x value of 2 is +

and the y value is ( + ), which then

creates a secant line between

points 1 and 2. Since we know the

coordinates of 1 ( , ()) we can now find the slope between 1 and 2.

( + ) () ( + ) ()
1 , 2 = , when simplified 1 , 2 = . So,
+

the difference quotient is the slope of the secant line that goes through two points on the

curve. Youll have to first find the ( + ) then subtract () then divide the whole

thing by . Next youll have to find the limit of your answer as approaches zero,

( + ) ()
.
0
You do this because as you can see you can define another point on the curve 3

whose secant line slope with 1 gets a bit closer to the slope of the tangent line.

Based off of this If you continuously keep defining new points on the curve closer to

1 you notice that the slope of their secant lines with 1 gets closer and closer to the

tangent line. Finding the is practically setting = 0 because you can imagine

becomes infinitely small that it is like

1
= 0. Your answer will be your derivative ().
 1
All of these steps have led you into getting the derivative ()because every step

was connected. You at the beginning did not know what a difference quotient was and

what it was used for. You found out that it was the slope of a secant line on a curve that

connected point 1 to another point on the curve. When you find the you are

finding the closest value to 0 so you can imagine that is getting infinitely small, the

value of that number is so small that it is practically 0. After doing all of this it gave you

your derivative function which you can use to find the slope of the curve on the value

imputed.