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Slope of curve at point 1

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swertel

Mechanical
Dec 21, 2000
2,067
I thought this problem would be pretty simple in MathCAD.

I have a defined curve and I know the point along the curve in which I want to determine the slope. Solution is to take the derivative of the curve with respect to x and then solve for y' based on the intersection point.

The problem I have with MathCAD is that it always takes just the partial differential and treats y as a constant.

Say I have an ellipse.
x^2 +xy + y^2 = 4

I take the derivative and I get
2x + y + xy' + 2yy' = 0
but MathCAD only gives me
2x + y

I can't find the slope of the curve (y') without the y' being in the solution. How do I a)force MathCAD to not use a partial differential equation or b)find the slope of the curve at a known point?

--Scott
 
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You need to let the symbolic processor know that y is a function of x, i.e., y(x).


TTFN

FAQ731-376
 
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