Question

The slope of the tangent line for the curve r=2 cos(3 theta) where theta = pi/6 is.

Answer 1

as you already know, the slope of the tangent line is simply the derivative of the function, so

`r=2cos(3\theta )\implies \cfrac{dr}{d\theta }=2\stackrel{chain~rule}{\left[ -sin(3\theta )\cdot 3 \right]} \\\\\\ \left. \cfrac{dr}{d\theta }=-6sin(3\theta ) \right|_{\theta =(\pi )/(6)}\implies -6sin\left( 3\cdot (\pi )/(6) \right)\implies -6sin\left( (\pi )/(2) \right)\implies -6`