Thread: Infinite gradient

Hi
Can anyone explain the following statement:
When the tangent is parallel to the y-axis it has infinite gradient
Would this be the same condition for a tangent parallel to the x axis? I came across it in the Edexcel C4 textbook.
Cheers

Originally Posted by gbenguse78

Hi
Can anyone explain the following statement:
When the tangent is parallel to the y-axis it has infinite gradient
Would this be the same condition for a tangent parallel to the x axis? I came across it in the Edexcel C4 textbook.
Cheers

no, if a line is parallel to the x-axis, it has slope 0.

remember, you can think of slope as rise over run (change in y over change in x). In the vertical case, the change in x is 0. since you cannot divide by zero, the slope is undefined, or you can think of the line having an infinitely large rise over an infinitesimally small run. make sense?