Education Technology

Secant/Tangent Line Connection

Author
Subject Area
Math: Calculus: Derivatives
Math: AP Calculus: AP Calculus
Level
9-12
Activity Time
60 Minutes
TI Calculator
TI-Nspire™ CX series
TI-Nspire™ CX CAS/CX II CAS
TI-Nspire Version
3.0
Resource Types
Lessons
Format
TNS

Secant/Tangent Line Connection

Activity Overview

Students will explore a real situation by minimizing the distance between two points on a secant line; ultimately making a connection to the slope of the tangent line and the difference quotient. Students will explore this graphically, numerically, and analytically. An extension at the end allows for students to use the automated capture to collect slopes of the tangent line on the original function and plot them on a scatter plot to see what the derivative looks like as a separate function.

This is an exploration to look at a concrete example of the connection between minimizing two points on a secant line and the slope of a tangent line. Students will look at this through multiple representations.
Author
Subject Area
Math: Calculus: Derivatives
Math: AP Calculus: AP Calculus
Level
9-12
Activity Time
60 Minutes
TI Calculator
TI-Nspire™ CX series
TI-Nspire™ CX CAS/CX II CAS
TI-Nspire Version
3.0
Resource Types
Lessons
Format
TNS
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