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Name: Norman
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Question:
Can you find the gradient of a curved line? If yes, how?- is it just the same as for a straight line of best fit?


Replies:
The gradient (i.e. slope) of a curve can be calculated using calculus. In fact that is one of its major uses. Just "how" to do it without knowing any calculus is not easy to do in a few words. You can look up values of the "derivatives" of various functions in a math handbook or calculus text. If you evaluate the derivative at the point of interest that is the slope of that function at that point. For example, let f(x)= x^2. The derivative of this f'(x) = 2*x. So the slope at x=0 is f'(0)=0; at x=1 then f'(1)=1; the slope at x=2 is f'(2)=4 and so on.

Vince Calder


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