(a) Find the tangent line to the function at the specified value of x.
(b) Use the tangent line from (a) to estimate the value of the function at (x + Δ x).
f (x) = x3 + 2x + 1, x = 1, Δ x = 0.2
Answer
(a) Let's find the tangent line. First we find the value of f when x = 1:
f (1) = 13 + 2(1) + 1 = 4
so our point is (1, 4). Now we find the slope. Since f '(x) = 3x2 + 2, the slope at the point (1, 4) is
f '(1) = 3(1)2 + 2 = 5.
Putting this together, the tangent line is
y = 5x – 1.
For a sanity check, we can put this into our calculator and make sure it looks like a tangent line, which it does.
(b) We want to estimate f (1 + .2), so we put x = 1.2 into the equation for the tangent line:
5(1.2) – 1 = 6 – 1 = 5
Example 2
For the function,
(a) Find the tangent line to the function at the specified value of x.
(b) Use the tangent line from (a) to estimate the value of the function at (x + Δ x).
Answer
(a) The function value at is
The derivative function is
f '(x) = 2(sin x)(cos x)
so the slope of our tangent line is
Putting this together, the tangent line is
(b) To estimate , we plug this value into the tangent line:
Example 3
For the function,
(a) Find the tangent line to the function at the specified value of x.
(b) Use the tangent line from (a) to estimate the value of the function at (x + Δ x).
f (x) = log2x, x = 8, Δ x = .01
Answer
(a) When x = 8 we have
f (8) = log2 8 = 3.
The derivative of f is
so the slope of the tangent line is
This means the equation for the tangent line is
(b) We plug 8.01 into the tangent line equation:
Example 4
For the function,
(a) Find the tangent line to the function at the specified value of x.
(b) Use the tangent line from (a) to estimate the value of the function at (x + Δ x).
f (x) = 4x + ex, x = 0, Δ x = 0.05
Answer
(a) We know f (0) = 4(0) + e0 = 1, so the point we need for the tangent line is (0, 1). The derivative of f is 4 + ex, so the slope of the tangent line is
f '(0) = 4 + e0 = 5.
Putting this together, the equation for the tangent line is
y = 5x + 1
(b) Plug 0 + 0.05 = 0.05 into the tangent line equation:
5(0.05) + 1 = 1.25
Example 5
For the function,
(a) Find the tangent line to the function at the specified value of x.
(b) Use the tangent line from (a) to estimate the value of the function at (x + Δ x).
Answer
(a) The slope of the tangent line at is
The value of the function at is 1, so we get the following tangent line:
(b) We plug
into the tangent line and get
It turns out that when you know a value of f at a particular x and you're asked to approximate the value of f somewhere nearby, you don't need to go to the trouble of finding the tangent line equation. As we saw earlier, it's enough to know the slope of the tangent line, yold, and Δ x. That's enough information to find ynew.
Example 6
If f (3) = 4.2 and f '(3) = 0.15, estimate f (3.1).
Answer
We have yold = 4.2, Δ x = 0.1, and slope = 0.15. So
Example 7
If and , estimate .
Answer
We have , slope , and . So
This is believable. We expect yold and ynew to be close together, and they are:
Example 8
The picture below shows the tangent line to f at -1. Estimate f (-0.9).
Answer
We have
We need to know f '(-1), also known as the slope of the tangent line. Since we have two points on the line we can find this.
The slope of the line is
Now we can find the the tangent line:
We can find b by plugging in either point given into the line.
We'll use (-4, 5.5):
so
Now that we have the tangent line, we can estimate f(-0.9):
which is about 3.43.
Example 9
The picture below shows the tangent line to f at x = 3. Find f '(3).
Answer
We know that f '(3) is the same as the slope of the tangent line to f at x = 3, so all we need to do is find the slope of this line.
We get
Example 10
If f (2) = 7 and a tangent line approximation at x = 2 estimates f (2.1) to be 7.2, what is f '(2)?
Answer
We have f (2) = 7. A tangent line approximation at x = 2 estimates f (2.1) ≈ 7.2. This means if we draw the tangent line to f at 2, the point (2.1,7.2) is on that line.
We know that f '(2) is the same as the slope of the tangent line to f at x = 2, so we need to find the slope of this tangent line. The slope is
so we conclude
f '(2) = 2.
Example 11
Let f (x) = 3x2 – 4x + 1. Use a tangent line approximation to estimate f (2.01).
Answer
Let's take the tangent line approximation at x = 2, since that's a nice round number that's close to 2.01. Then
Δ x = 0.01
yold = 3(2)2 – 4(2) + 1 = 5.
Since f '(x) = 6x – 4, the slope of the tangent line at x = 2 is
f '(2) = 6(2) – 4 = 8.
therefore
Example 12
Let f (x) = 7x2 – 3x + 4. Use a tangent line approximation to estimate f (2.99).
Answer
Since 2.99 is close to 3, we'll take the tangent line to f at 3. Then Δ x = -0.01 and
yold = f (3) = 7(9) – 3(3) + 4 = 58.
The derivative of f is
f '(x) = 14x – 3
so the slope of the tangent line at 3 is
f '(3) = 14(3) – 3 = 39.
We can now estimate f (2.99) by finding ynew on the tangent line:
Example 13
Let f (x) = ex. Use a tangent line approximation to estimate f (0.05).
Answer
Let's take the tangent line at x = 0, since that's close to 0.05. Then Δ x = 0.05.
Since f '(x) = f (x) = ex, both yold and the slope of the tangent line equal e0 = 1.
Then
Example 14
Let f (x) = 2x. Use a tangent line approximation to estimate f (3.02).
Hint
Wait until the end to round off your answer.
Answer
Let's take the tangent line to f at x = 3, which is close to 3.02. Then Δ x = .02. We have
yold = f (3) = 23 = 8.
The derivative of f is
f '(x) = 2x ln 2
so the slope of the tangent line at 3 is
f '(3) = 8 ln 2.
Now we can do the estimation:
We didn't round until the very last step.
Example 15
Let f (x) = sin (5x). Use a tangent line approximation to estimate f (3).
Hint
3 is close to π
Answer
Following the hint, let's draw the tangent line at x = π, which is close to 3. Then
Δ x = 3 – π.
If we're drawing a tangent line at π to approximate f (3), then yes, Δ x will be negative.
We'll wait to round until the very end of the problem. Now let's figure out the other values we need.
yold = f (π) = sin(5π) = 0.
Since
f '(x) = 5cos(5x)
the slope of the tangent line is
f '(π) = 5cos(5π) = -5.
Now we can do the estimation, leaving all rounding until the end: