Education Technology

Calculus: Secant Lines

by Texas Instruments

Overview

In this activity, students will observe the slopes of the secant and tangent line as a point on the function approaches the point of tangency.

Key Steps

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    Using the draw menu, students will have a tangent line drawn at point P(1, 1). The equation of the line will appear on the screen.

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    Students will discuss how the secant and tangent lines compare to each other.

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    Students will approximate the instantaneous rate of change using the slope of the secant line.