Differentiation and finding tangent

Maatttt0
Messages
37
Reaction score
0

Homework Statement



Find the equation of the tangent to the curve y = x2(x + 1)4 at the point P(1,16)

Homework Equations





The Attempt at a Solution



dy/dx x2(x + 1)4

= (x + 1)3((x + 1)2x + 4x2)

= (x + 1)3(6x2 + 2x)

= (x + 1)3(2x)(3x + 1)

Subst. 1 into find grad.

(1 + 1)3(2)(3 + 1)

= 64

Seems wrong..

y - 16 = 64(x - 1)

y = 64x - 48

I think it's probably wrong, just so confused - can someone give me a hand please? Much appreciated :smile:
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Maatttt0 said:

Homework Statement



Find the equation of the tangent to the curve y = x2(x + 1)4 at the point P(1,16)

Homework Equations





The Attempt at a Solution



dy/dx x2(x + 1)4

= (x + 1)3((x + 1)2x + 4x2)

= (x + 1)3(6x2 + 2x)

= (x + 1)3(2x)(3x + 1)

Subst. 1 into find grad.

(1 + 1)3(2)(3 + 1)

= 64

Seems wrong..

y - 16 = 64(x - 1)

y = 64x - 48

I think it's probably wrong, just so confused - can someone give me a hand please? Much appreciated :smile:

You should plug it into the derivative formula

f'(x) = \lim_{h \to 0}\frac{f(x+h) - f(x)}{h}

and put this into you Calculator...

and use the good old Tangent formula.

y = f(a) + f'(a)(x-a) where you take the derivative at x = a.
 
Thank you for your reply, Susanne, it's just that I've never seen the tangent formula before :S

Also my homework is based around the idea of differentiating so I was wondering if I was going in the right direction :S
 
Maatttt0 said:
Thank you for your reply, Susanne, it's just that I've never seen the tangent formula before :S

Also my homework is based around the idea of differentiating so I was wondering if I was going in the right direction :S

You derivative is correct.

But you can use the definition of the derivative and graphical Calculator to check your result.

and your userage of the tangent formula looks to be okay too :)
 
Last edited:
Oo okay, thank you - just thought it was wrong considering the grad was 64 that's all.

Thanks Susanne for checking :D
 
There are two things I don't understand about this problem. First, when finding the nth root of a number, there should in theory be n solutions. However, the formula produces n+1 roots. Here is how. The first root is simply ##\left(r\right)^{\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)}##. Then you multiply this first root by n additional expressions given by the formula, as you go through k=0,1,...n-1. So you end up with n+1 roots, which cannot be correct. Let me illustrate what I mean. For this...
Back
Top