Calculus: The Equation of a Tangent Line

Watch full lesson here:

http://www.mindbites.com/lesson/823-calculus-the-equation-of-a-tangent-line/first#

This lesson is part of a series: Calculus

In this lesson, you will cover how to find the equation of a line tangent to a curve, equations of tangent lines, how to find the derivative, and how to find the point where the tangent line is horizontal. To find the equation of the tangent line, you'll start by taking the derivative of the curve and then evaluate that derivative at the point of tangency. You'll then substitute the coordinates of the point of tangency as well as the calculated slope into the point-slope form of the line: y-y1 = m*(x-x1) to get the equation of the tangent line. To find where the tangent line is horizontal, you'll set the derivative of the function equal to zero and solve for x.

Taught by Professor Edward Burger, this lesson was selected from a broader, comprehensive course, College Algebra. This course and others are available from Thinkwell, Inc. The full course can be found at http://www.thinkwell.com/student/product/calculus. The full course covers limits, derivatives, implicit differentiation, integration or antidifferentiation, L'Hôpital's Rule, functions and their inverses, improper integrals, integral calculus, differential calculus, sequences, series, differential equations, parametric equations, polar coordinates, vector calculus and a variety of other AP Calculus, College Calculus and Calculus II topics.