6.1 Parabolic and other functions

Average gradient: parabolic and other functions

Investigation : average gradient - parabolic function

Fill in the table by calculating the average gradient over the indicated intervals for the function $f\left(x\right)=2x-2$ :

What do you notice about the average gradient over each interval? What can you say about the average gradients between A and D compared to the averagegradients between D and G?

The average gradient of a parabolic function depends on the interval and is the gradient of a straight line that passes through the points on the interval.

For example, in [link] the various points have been joined by straight-lines. The average gradients between the joined points are then the gradients of the straight lines that pass through the points.

Method: average gradient

Given the equation of a curve and two points ( $x_1$ , $x_2$ ):

1. Write the equation of the curve in the form $y=...$ .
2. Calculate $y_1$ by substituting $x_1$ into the equation for the curve.
3. Calculate $y_2$ by substituting $x_2$ into the equation for the curve.
4. Calculate the average gradient using:
   $$\frac{y_2-y_1}{x_2-x_1}$$

Average gradient for other functions

We can extend the concept of average gradient to any function. The average gradient for any function also depends on the interval chosen and is the gradient of a straight line that passes through the two points. So we can use the formula that we found for the average gradient of parabolic functions and apply it to any function. We will consider the average gradient of just two functions here: exponential functions and hyperbolic functions.

Average gradient of exponential functions

For example, if we were asked to find the average gradient of the function $\mathrm{g(x)}=3.2^x+2$ between the points $(-4;\mathrm{2,2})$ and $(-\mathrm{0,6};4)$ . This is shown in [link] .

Average gradient of hyperbolic functions

For example, if we were asked to find the average gradient of the function $g\left(x\right)=\frac{2}{x}+2$ between the points $(-4;-\mathrm{2,5})$ and $(\mathrm{0,5};6)$ and $(-4;\mathrm{2,2})$ and $(-\mathrm{0,6};4)$ . This is shown in [link] .

For the first point we would get: