Thread: Equation of tangent line

Find equation of line tangent to the hyperbola at the point

I can't see where the y-intercept comes from... so the equation is

I don't where to go from finding the slope, do I just keep plugging in points for ?????

Originally Posted by Foxlion

Find equation of line tangent to the hyperbola at the point

I can't see where the y-intercept comes from... so the equation is

I don't where to go from finding the slope, do I just keep plugging in points for ?????

You have the coordinates of the tangent point and the slope of the tangent line. Use slope-point-equation of a straight line:

and can be found using the condition that the point belongs to that tangent line. Use the coordinates of that point instead of x and y in and you will get .

Earboth beat me to it.

Originally Posted by Foxlion

never mind

Are you saying that earboth and mathoman were just wasting their time responding to your post?

Originally Posted by HallsofIvy

Are you saying that earboth and mathoman were just wasting their time responding to your post?

no, I posted that before seeing their replies. I looked at what I had posted and saw that I simply had to plug in an x and a y and solve for the