Calculus homework help

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Screenshot of a WeBWorK online homework page for Section 2.1 Problem 9: find the tangent line to f(x) = -4x^2 at (-1, -4), solved for y, with the answer box showing 8x+4.
 
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  • Screenshot of a WeBWorK calculus problem, Section 2.1 Problem 10, for y = g(x) = -x^2 + 5x + 8, with parts (a) through (d) and filled-in answer fields.
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  • Screenshot of a WeBWorK online homework page for Section 2.1 Problem 8, asking for the slope of the tangent line to f(x) = sqrt(3x + 25) at the point (8, 7), with an empty answer box.
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For problem 8, $f(x)=\sqrt{3x+25}$ which can be written as $f(x)=(3x+25)^{1/2}$. Now I suppose you know that the derivative of $x^n$ is $nx^{n- 1}$ (here n= 1/2) and that, by the chain rule, the derivative of $(g(x))^n= n(g(x))^{n-1} g'(x)$ (here g(x)= 3x+ 25 and g'(x)= 3).

For problem 9, yes, the slope of the the tangent line is 8. But you have the value of the function wrong! $f(-1)= -4(-1)^2$. That is NOT 4! (Look at the difference between $(-1)^2$ and $-1^2$.)

For problem 10 you have correctly found that the derivative is -2x+ 5 but you have left the next part, the slope of the tangent line at x=2, blank. Why is that? Do you not understand that the slope of the tangent line at a given x is the derivative at that x? Here that is -2(2)+5.