Calculate the equation of the tangents to \(y=9-x^{2}\) at the points where \(y\) crosses the \(x\) axis.

Short Answer

Expert verified
Answer: The equations of the tangents are \(y = -6x + 18\) and \(y = 6x + 18\).

Step by step solution

01

Find the points of intersection with the x-axis

To find the points where the curve intersects the x-axis, we set \(y\) to 0 and solve for \(x\): $$ 0 = 9 - x^2 $$ Now, we should find the values of \(x\) that satisfy the above equation. $$ x^2 = 9 $$ So, \(x = \pm 3\) are the x-intercepts of the curve. And the corresponding points are \((3,0)\) and \((-3,0)\).
02

Find the derivatives of the given function

Now, we will find the derivative of \(y\) with respect to \(x\) to determine the slope of the tangent at these points. $$ y = 9 - x^2 $$ Differentiating both sides with respect to \(x\), we get $$ \frac{dy}{dx} = -2x $$
03

Evaluate the slopes at the points of intersection

Now, we will find the slopes of the tangents at the points \((3,0)\) and \((-3,0)\) by plugging in the x-coordinates into the derivative we found earlier. For the point \((3,0)\): $$ \frac{dy}{dx} = -2(3) = -6 $$ For the point \((-3,0)\): $$ \frac{dy}{dx} = -2(-3) = 6 $$
04

Write the equations for the tangents using the point-slope form

Now that we have the slopes at the points of intersection, we can use the point-slope form of a line to write the equations for the tangents. The point-slope form of a line is given by: $$ y - y_1 = m(x - x_1) $$ Where \((x_1, y_1)\) is the point on the line, and \(m\)is the slope. For the tangent at point \((3,0)\) with slope \(-6\): $$ y - 0 = -6(x - 3) \\ y = -6x + 18 $$ For the tangent at point \((-3,0)\) with slope \(6\): $$ y - 0 = 6(x + 3) \\ y = 6x + 18 $$ So the equations of the tangents to the curve \(y = 9 - x^2\) at the points where it intersects the x-axis are \(y = -6x + 18\) and \(y = 6x + 18\).

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