Can someone please tell me how you find the slope of the tangent line

Question

phi · Answer

given a curve, you can find the derivative of the curve.  At any given point, the derivative evaluated at that point is the slope of the tangent line.

anonymous · Answer

-how do you find the derivative of the curve?

phi · Answer

do you have a specific curve in mind?

anonymous · Answer

y=x^2 at the point (2,4)

anonymous · Answer

y=x^2 through the point (7,49) use this tangent line to estimate squareroot of 50

phi · Answer

$$ \frac{dy}{dx} = 2x $$
$ \frac{dy}{dx} $ represents the change in y over the change in x

anonymous · Answer

what is the 2x?

anonymous · Answer

ohhh the derivative of x^2

phi · Answer

|dw:1334957668271:dw| If you don't know, these videos might help http://www.khanacademy.org/math/calculus/v/calculus--derivatives-1--new-hd-version