# Need help in solving a problem

• May 18th 2008, 02:43 AM
kleyzam
Need help in solving a problem
is some1 able to give me the answer of the following question please? I cant seem to be capable of getting to the right ans, i'm going nuts..pls(Thinking)

The normal to the curve $y = x^2 + 5x - 2$ at the point where x = -3, and the tangent to the same curve at the point where x = 1, meet at the point Q. Find the coordinates of Q.

• May 18th 2008, 04:02 AM
mr fantastic
Quote:

Originally Posted by kleyzam
is some1 able to give me the answer of the following question please? I cant seem to be capable of getting to the right ans, i'm going nuts..pls(Thinking)

The normal to the curve y = x^2 + 5x - 2 at the point where x = -3, and the tangent to the same curve at the point where x = 1, meet at the point Q. Find the coordinates of Q.

dy/dx = 2x + 5.

Normal at x = -3: m = -1/(-1) = 1. Point on normal is (-3, -8) (sub x = -3 to get y = -8). Get the equation of the line.

Tangent at x = 1: m = 7. Point on tangent is (1, 4) (sub x = 1 to get y = 4). Get the equation of the line.

Get the intersection of the two lines found above.