What is the slope of a horizontal tangent line?

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What is the slope of a horizontal tangent line?

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Answer 1 · 2014-07-23T18:21:42

The slope of a horizontal tangent line is 0.

To calculate the slope of a straight line, we take a difference in the #y# dimension and divide it by the change in the #x# dimension of two points on the line:

#"slope" = (y_1 - y_2)/(x_1 - x_2)# assuming points #(x_1, y_1)# and #(x_2, y_2)# lie on the line

For a horizontal line #y_1 - y_2 = 0# so

#"slope" = 0/(x_1 - x_2) = 0#

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What is the slope of a horizontal tangent line?

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