General Tangent and Normal Lines To find the equation of the tangent to the curve, find the slope and use point-slope form. To find the equation of the normal to the curve, find the slope, take opposite reciprocal of this slope, and use point-slope form. Tangents to Parametrically Defined Curves To find the tangent to a parametric curve, first take the derivative with respect to t of f(t) at x (dx/dt) and f(t) at y (dy/dt), then find dy/dx through division of dy/dt and dx/dt. Next, plug in t (it should be specified in the problem) to dy/dx, x, and y and put it in point slope form. |  |
| GENERAL TANGENTS/NORMALS <<--- PDF file<<--- Audio file <<--- Smart-pen file PARAMETRIC TANGENTS <<--- PDF file<<--- Audio file <<--- Smart-pen file |
