Welcome back, everyone. So let's go ahead and try solving this example. In this problem, we're told to find the equation of the line tangent to the function f(x) = -4x2 at x = -2. To start with this problem, we need the equation for the slope of the tangent line, which is the limit as x approaches c of the following expression:
f ( x ) - f ( c ) x - cThis is the general equation for the slope of a tangent line.
Now, applying the function and the numbers given to this equation, we see that c is our given x-value, which is -2. Thus, we have the limit as x approaches -2. We also have our function f(x), given as -4x2.
We calculate f(c) in this case as f(-2). Using the equation, we get -4(-2)2. Evaluating this, we get -4(4) = -16.
Thus, the expression is:
- 4 x 2 + 16 x + 2When x is -2, the denominator becomes 0. To resolve this, I factor the numerator after pulling out -4, obtaining the following form:
- 4 ( x + 2 ) ( x - 2 ) x + 2We cancel x + 2, and the slope of our tangent line becomes -4(x - 2). Applying the limit as x approaches -2, we find that the slope m = 16.
The equation of the tangent line using the point-slope form is y - y0 = m(x - x0), where y0 = -16 and x0 = -2:
y + 16 = 16 ( x + 2 )Simplifying: y = 16x + 16. This gives us y = mx + b, where m = 16 and b = 16.
This is the equation for our tangent line and the solution to this problem. I hope you found this video helpful.