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Talk:Tangent line

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Post $\TeX$ notes:

  • I think this article is not terribly helpful to its non-expert intended audience. What should the débutante make of "the line $MM_1$ tends to a limiting line $MT$", since the line (segment) $MM_1$ does not "tend to a line" but to to a point! This would be much better phrased in terms of directions: "if the direction of $MM_1$ converges to some fixed value however $M_1$ converges to $M$, then the line through $M$ in this direction is the tangent to $L$ at $M$", something like that. I will make this change in a few days unless anyone has a better idea
  • I could not make out the LHS of the final displayed equation after "The equation of the tangent to a curve": it looks like it is an $\mathbf{r}$ but that would not make sense, so I've used a $\mathbf{t}$ (for tangent) and made the $\lambda$ parameterisation explicit.
  • A desperately needed paragraph break added before the parametric description of the tangent.

--Jjg 22:04, 24 April 2012 (CEST)

How to Cite This Entry:
Tangent line. Encyclopedia of Mathematics. URL: http://encyclopediaofmath.org/index.php?title=Tangent_line&oldid=25296