∫Calc Practice

Tangent lines to parametric curves

Problem 8.70 · hard

Find the equation of the tangent line to \( \displaystyle x = t^{2},\ y = \sin{\left(t \right)} \) at \( \displaystyle t = -1 \).
  1. dy/dx = (dy/dt)/(dx/dt).
  2. \[ \frac{d}{d t} t^{2} = 2 t \]
    dx/dt.✓ Proved
  3. \[ \frac{d}{d t} \sin{\left(t \right)} = \cos{\left(t \right)} \]
    dy/dt.✓ Proved
  4. \[ \frac{\left(-1\right) \cos{\left(1 \right)}}{2} = - \frac{\cos{\left(1 \right)}}{2} \]
    The slope at t = -1.✓ Proved
  5. \[ \left[\begin{matrix}1\\- \sin{\left(1 \right)}\end{matrix}\right] \]
    The point.✓ Proved
  6. \[ \frac{\left(1 - x\right) \cos{\left(1 \right)}}{2} - \sin{\left(1 \right)} = - \frac{x \cos{\left(1 \right)}}{2} - \sin{\left(1 \right)} + \frac{\cos{\left(1 \right)}}{2} \]
    Point-slope form.✓ Proved
Answer \( y = - \frac{x \cos{\left(1 \right)}}{2} - \sin{\left(1 \right)} + \frac{\cos{\left(1 \right)}}{2} \)

Lines: 5 proved, 1 not checked. The answer was also checked a second way, without looking at the solution. The reviewers disagree about how one step is explained; every verdict is in the receipt.

The full receipt
LineStatusChecked byDetail
1Not checked—a sentence; read, not computed
2✓ Provedsympy 1.14.0simplify(lhs - rhs) reduced to 0
3✓ Provedsympy 1.14.0simplify(lhs - rhs) reduced to 0
4✓ Provedsympy 1.14.0simplify(lhs - rhs) reduced to 0
5✓ Provedsympy 1.14.0simplify(lhs - rhs) reduced to 0
6✓ Provedsympy 1.14.0simplify(lhs - rhs) reduced to 0
answer, a second way✓ Checked independentlysympy 1.14.0 + mpmath 1.3.0a secant through nearby points of the curve has the same slope; the line passes through the point

Reviewers

  • gpt-oss:20b: pass
  • qwen3.6:27b-mlx: fail (error) — The solution incorrectly uses the point (1, -sin(1)) instead of the correct point (1, sin(1)) at t = -1, since sin(-1) = -sin(1). This leads to an incorrect tangent line equation.
Every verdict on record (4)
  • qwen3.6:27b-mlx: fail (error) 2026-09-28 — The solution incorrectly uses the point (1, -sin(1)) instead of the correct point (1, sin(1)) at t = -1, since sin(-1) = -sin(1). This leads to an incorrect tangent line equation.
  • gpt-oss:20b: pass 2026-09-28
  • qwen3.6:27b-mlx: inconclusive 2026-09-28 — reviewer response could not be parsed: { "verdict": "fail", "severity": "error", "notes": "The solution uses the point (1, -sin(1)) in the point-slope formula, but the correct point at t = -1 is (1, sin(-1)) = (1, -sin(1)). Wait, sin(-1) i
  • gpt-oss:20b: pass 2026-09-28

Proved: SymPy reduced the difference between the two sides to zero. Checked independently: a separate method, named above, confirmed it. Checked numerically: the two sides agree at every sampled point, which is evidence, not proof. Reviewed: a model or a person read it; that is all a sentence can have. Solution by generator:structured/parametric_tangent, checked 2026-09-28 with SymPy 1.14.0.