Find the equation of the tangent line practice problems

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How do I find the equation of a tangent line?
How do you find the slope of a tangent line with a given point?

Circle A is centered about the origin and has a radius of 5. What is the equation of the line that is tangent to Circle A at the point (–3,4)?

Possible Answers:

3x – 4y = –1

–3x + 4y = 1

3x – 4y = –25

3x + 4y = 7

Correct answer:

3x – 4y = –25

Explanation:

The line must be perpendicular to the radius at the point (–3,4). The slope of the radius is given by

The radius has endpoints (–3,4) and the center of the circle (0,0), so its slope is –4/3.

The slope of the tangent line must be perpendicular to the slope of the radius, so the slope of the line is ¾.

The equation of the line is y – 4 = (3/4)(x – (–3))

Rearranging gives us: 3x – 4y = -25

Give the equation, in slope-intercept form, of the line tangent to the circle of the equation

at the point .

Possible Answers:

None of the other responses gives the correct answer.

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The graph of the equation is a circle with center .

A tangent to this circle at a given point is perpendicular to the radius to that point. The radius with endpoints and will have slope

so the tangent line has the opposite of the reciprocal of this, or , as its slope.

The tangent line therefore has equation

Give the equation, in slope-intercept form, of the line tangent to the circle of the equation

at the point .

Possible Answers:

None of the other responses gives the correct answer.

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Rewrite the equation of the circle in standard form to find its center:

Complete the square:

The center is .

A tangent to this circle at a given point is perpendicular to the radius to that point. The radius with endpoints and will have slope

so the tangent line has the opposite of the reciprocal of this, or , as its slope.

The tangent line therefore has equation

What is the equation of a tangent line to

at point ?

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To find an equation tangent to

we need to find the first derviative of this equation with respect to to get the slope of the tangent line.

So,

due to power rule .

First we need to find our slope by plugging our into the derivative equation and solving.

Thus, the slope is

To find the equation of a tangent line of a given point we plug the point into

Therefore our equation becomes,

Once we rearrange, the equation is

What is the tangent line equation of

at point

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To find an equation tangent to

we need to find the first derviative of this equation with respect to to get the slope of the tangent line.

So,

due to power rule .

First we need to find the slope by plugging our into the derivative equation and solving.

Thus, the slope is

To find the equation of a tangent line of a given point we plug it into

Therefore our equation is

Once we rearrange, the equation is

Find the equation of a tangent line to

for the point

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To find an equation tangent to

we need to find the first derviative of this equation with respect to to get the slope of the tangent line.

So,

due to power rule .

First we need to find the slope by plugging in our into the derivative equation and solving.

Thus, the slope is

To find the equation of a tangent line of a given point we plug our point into

Therefore our equation is

Once we rearrange, the equation is

What is the equation of a tangent line to

at the point

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To find an equation tangent to

we need to find the first derviative of this equation with respect to to get the slope of the tangent line.

So,

due to power rule .

First we need to find our slope by plugging in our into the derivative equation and solving.

Thus, the slope is

To find the equation of a tangent line of a given point we plug the point into

Therefore our equation is

Once we rearrange, the equation is

Find the equation of a tangent line to

at the point

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To find an equation tangent to

we need to find the first derviative of this equation with respect to to get the slope of the tangent line.

So,

due to power rule .

First we need to find the slope by plugging in our into the derivative equation and solving.

Thus, the slope is

To find the equation of a tangent line of a given point we plug our point into

Therefore our equation is

Once we rearrange, the equation is

What is the equation of a tangent line to

at point

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To find an equation tangent to

we need to find the first derviative of this equation with respect to to get the slope of the tangent line.

So,

due to power rule .

First we need to find our slope by plugging in our into the derivative equation and solving.

Thus, the slope is

To find the equation of a tangent line of a given point , we plug the point into

Therefore our equation is

Once we rearrange, the equation is

Find the tangent line equation to

at point

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To find an equation tangent to

we need to find the first derviative of this equation with respect to to get the slope of the tangent line.

So,

due to power rule .

First we need to find our slope at our by plugging in the value into our derivative equation and solving.

Thus, the slope is

To find the equation of a tangent line of a given point

We plug into

Therefore our equation is

Once we rearrange, the equation is

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How do I find the equation of a tangent line?

The equation of the tangent line can be found using the formula y – y₁ = m (x – x₁), where m is the slope and (x₁, y₁) is the coordinate points of the line.

How do you find the slope of a tangent line with a given point?

Figure out the slope of the tangent line. This is m=f′(a)=limx→af(x)−f(a)x−a=limh→0f(a+h)−f(a)h. Use the point-slope formula y−y0=m(x−x0) to get the equation of the line: y−f(a)=m(x−a).