Determine the equation of the tangent line to the unit circle at the point (1/2, sqrt(3)/2)
The equation of the unit circle is given by:
$$ x^2 + y^2 = 1 $$
To find the tangent line at the point $\left( \frac{1}{2}, \frac{\sqrt{3}}{2} \right)$, we need to determine the slope. Differentiating implicitly:
$$ 2x \frac{dx}{dt} + 2y \frac{dy}{dt} = 0 $$
At $\left( \frac{1}{2}, \frac{\sqrt{3}}{2} \right)$, the slope $m$ is:
$$ m = – \frac{x}{y} = – \frac{ \frac{1}{2} }{ \frac{\sqrt{3}}{2} } = – \frac{1}{\sqrt{3}} = – \frac{\sqrt{3}}{3} $$
The equation of the tangent line is:
$$ y – \frac{\sqrt{3}}{2} = – \frac{\sqrt{3}}{3} \left( x – \frac{1}{2} \right) $$
Simplifying the equation:
$$ y = – \frac{\sqrt{3}}{3} x + \frac{\sqrt{3}}{6} + \frac{\sqrt{3}}{2} $$
$$ y = – \frac{\sqrt{3}}{3} x + \frac{2\sqrt{3}}{3} $$