## anonymous one year ago fan medal and testimonial. help plz what is the instantaneous slope of y= -2/x at x=3? a. -2/9 b. 2/9 c. 2/3 d. -2/3

1. anonymous

a

2. Astrophysics

You don't know derivatives yet right

3. anonymous

right.

4. Astrophysics

Ok so remember that definition I showed you a while back? $\lim_{h \rightarrow 0} \frac{ f(a+h)-f(a) }{ h }$

5. Astrophysics

We are just using $\lim_{h \rightarrow 0} \frac{ f(x+h)-f(x) }{ h }$

6. anonymous

what is h? I think its 2.

7. Astrophysics

That's the definition of the instantaneous rate of change, you have to plug in f(3), how are you getting 2? Guessing isn't going to help on tests.

8. anonymous

I got the 2 from the equation itself y= -2/x. im asking because I am looking for h I know I have to plug in 3 but h has me confused.

9. Astrophysics

It's the definition, you must've learned about the slope of a tangent line, and drawing it out the graphs we basically represent $\Delta x = h$ from $\frac{ \Delta y }{ \Delta x }$ that's the simplest way I can put it

10. anonymous