Lesson Plan: Equations of Tangent Lines and Normal Lines Mathematics • Higher Education
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to find the slope and equation of the tangent and normal to a curve at a given point using derivatives.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- find the equation of the tangent to a curve at a given point,
- find the equation of the normal to a curve at a given point,
- find the point on the curve at which the normal or tangent is parallel or perpendicular to a given line,
- find the point at which two curves meet orthogonally.
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- differentiating polynomial, trigonometric, rational, and radical functions,
- completing an equation given the slope of the tangent to the curve at a given point,
- the chain, product, and quotient rules of differentiation.
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- implicitly defined curves,
- differentiation of reciprocal trigonometric functions.