Introduction to Calculus: Background You’ll Need 3

  • Determine the average rate of change of a function over a given interval

Average Rate of Change

The average rate of change of a function describes how the output of the function changes, on average, over a specific interval of input values. It is calculated using two points on the function.

Average rate of change

The average rate of change of a function from [latex]x=a[/latex] to [latex]x=b[/latex] is
[latex]\frac{f(b)-f(a)}{b-a}[/latex].

Supposed [latex]f(x)=x^2[/latex]. Find the average rate of change on the interval [latex][1,3][/latex].