How do you calculate rate of change?

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Answer 1 · 2014-11-13T10:08:32

Average Rate of Change

The average rate of change of a function $f(x)$ on an interval $[a,b]$ can be found by

$("Average Rate of Change")={f(b)-f(a)}/{b-a}$

Example

Find the average rate of change of $f(x)=x^2+3x$ on $[1,3]$ .

$f(3)=(3)^2+3(3)=18$

$f(1)=(1)^2+3(1)=4$

$("Average Rate of Change")={f(3)-f(1)}/{3-1}={18-4}/{2}=14/2=7$

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