What is a Tangent Line to a Circle?

Don't go off on a tangent while writing equations of tangent lines! Scholars determine the equations for tangent lines to circles. They attempt both concrete and abstract examples, such as a tangent line to the unit circle through...

Construct tangent lines and make the connection to tangent functions. An informative instructional activity reviews the geometry origins of the tangent function. Pupils use that information to determine how to construct a tangent to a...

Your Geometry learners will collaboratively prove that the tangent line of a circle is perpendicular to the radius of the circle. A deliberately sparse introduction allows for a variety of approaches to find a solution. 

Using a specific example, Sal shows how to find the equation of a tangent line to a given function at a specific point. Specifically, he solves the problem of finding the tangent line to the function f(x) = xex at x = 1. This problem...

Given a function and a point on the function, the video shows how to determine the equation of the tangent line at that point. Using the function equation, the presenter determines the y-coordinate for the point. The 24th video in a...

Perform parallel calculations to find equal slopes. Using the formula for the equation of the tangent line to a point, the resource sets out to find two points with a difference of one that have parallel tangent lines.The 25th video in a...

Use slope to find the location of horizontal and vertical tangent lines. Using the derivative of a radical function, the presenter finds the points where the derivative is zero or undefined on a given interval. The 26th in a series of 31...

Pupils learn how to find the derivative of a function by applying the definition using limits. Learners understand that the derivative provides the slope of the tangent line and use that information to find the equation of the tangent...

Is it normal to find a perpendicular line to the tangent line? The short video provides a problem to find the equation of the normal line to a function. Beginning with an explanation of the normal line, the 27th installment in a 31-part...

Estimating a square root is as easy as evaluating a linear equation. Using the derivative of the square root function, pupils calculate an estimation of square roots. Class members determine the equation of the tangent line at the value...