Rate of Change Presentation

Eric Qiu, Austin Chin, Anita Kalahasti, and Sara Koh

Difference Quotient
f(x)=f(x+h)f(x)/h

Deriving the Equation

-Drawing a secant line

through any two points on a
graph will derive this equation
-However, we will not always
know the exact coordinate of
x2, or f(x2), but we should be
able to find h, the
displacement between x1 and
x2.
-If we plug in h instead, we
can derive another form of
this equation.

Deriving the Equation

-As one can see, we have derived

the difference quotient equation
on Slide 2.
-This rate of change can be
applied to any function, linear or
nonlinear.
-In other words, slope is a
simplified form of rate of change,
since the rate of change of any
linear line is constant.

f(x)=f(x+h)f(x)/h

-Since h is a variable and varies

from situation to situation, what
happens when h is extremely
small?

Instantaneous Rate of Change

This is the rate of change in a single particular moment. The instantaneous rate of
change is the same as the derivative of a particular point. A derivative is
essentially the limit of the average rate of change between a fixed point on a curve
and a another point closer to the fixed point. In a function, the instantaneous rate
of change would be the slope of the tangent line.
Essentially, as the value of h
becomes smaller and smaller, the
average rate of change
approaches the instantaneous
rate of change. Thus, the
instantaneous rate of change of a
function f at x is the limit of the
difference quotient (h---->0).

Trigonometry Application

What is the
instantaneous rate of
change of the function
f(x) = sin(x)?

Trigonometry Application, Worked Out

Find the instantaneous rate of change of f(x)=sin

(x) when x=/3
Because the instantaneous rate of change of f(x)=sinx is given by g(x)=cosx, the
instantaneous rate of change at x=/3 is cos(/3). cos /3 is . Knowing this, one
can determine that sinx is changing unit per unit increase in x.

What is the instantaneous rate of change of f(x)

=sinx for the following values of x.
a.

x=0

cos(0)=1, sin x is changing at a rate of 1 unit per increase in x when x=0

b.

x=/4

cos (/4)=2/2
c.

x=/2

cos (/2)=0, sin x is not changing per unit increase in x when x=/2