Applications of Differentiation
Department of Applied Studies
Malawi University of Science and Technology
elearning.must.ac.mw
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Overview
1 Introduction
Increasing and Decreasing
Learning Outcome
2 Concavity of Functions
Increasing or Decreasing Functions
Second Derivative Test
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Motivation
Think about the curve below
Figure: Increasing or decreasing in a interval
1 The curve increases up to A. From A the curve decreases to B. From
B the curve increases.
2 Towards A or beyond B, the gradient of the tangent at each point is
positive
3 At any point between A and the gradient is negative.
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Stationary Point
What can you say about the gradients of the tangents at points A and B?
Whatever your answer to this question is, the gradients of the tangents at
points A and B are zeroes in each case.
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Objectives
On successful completion of the Unit, you will be able to
determine whether a function is increasing or not in a particular
interval.
Sketch a curve in the Cartesian plane
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Increasing or Decreasing
Proposition
1 If the derivative of a
function is positive on an
1 That is, if
interval, then the function is f 0 (x) > 0, ∀ x ∈ (a, b), then f is
increasing in that interval. increasing on (a, b).
2 If the derivative of a
2 That is, if
function is negative on an f 0 (x) < 0, ∀ x ∈ (a, b), then f is
interval, then the function is decreasing on (a, b).
decreasing in that interval.
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Illustration
The following table must assist you to understand the proposition in
previous slide
0 0
Criteria f >0 f <0
function increasing decreasing
graph going up % going down &
Definition
0
A number x0 for which f (x0 ) = 0 is called a critical number. A point
0
(x0 , y0 ) = (x0 , f (x0 )) for which f (x0 ) = 0 is called a critical point.
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Second Derivative Test
00 0
1 If f is twice differentiable and f (x0 ) > 0 and f (x0 ) = 0, then f has
a minimum at x0
00 0
2 If f is twice differentiable and f (x0 ) < 0 and f (x0 ) = 0, then f has
a maximum at x0
00 0
3 If f (x0 ) = 0, then f has a minimum at x0 , where f (x0 ) = 0, then
the point is either a maximum or a minimum or a point of inflection.
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Illustration
The following figure should assist you to understand the preceding theory
Figure: Critical Points
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Example
Determine the nature of the critical points of the function given by
f (x) = 27x − x 3 . Hence sketch the graph of the function.
solution
0 00
f (x) = 27 − 3x 2 and f (x) = −6x
0
We find critical values by for x in f (x) = 27 − 3x 2 = 0, from which we
have x = ±3 and f (3) = 27(3) − (3)3 = 54 and
f (−3) = 27(−3) − (−3)3 = −54
so the critical points are (−3, −54) and (3, 54)
00
Now, f (−3) = −6(−3) = 18 > 0. Thus, (−3, −54) is a local minimum .
00
Similarly, f (3) = −6(3) = −18 < 0 and hence, (3, 54) is a local
maximum.
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Example-Continued
This analysis suggests the following graph.
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Exercise
1 Find the interval in which the function f (x) = x 2 e −x is decreasing or
increasing.
2 Find the interval in which the function f (x) = 27x − x 3 is increasing
or decreasing.
x2
3 Sketch the graph of y = x+1 .
4 Find the stationary points and the zeros of y = 3x − x 3 . Sketch the
graph of the function y = 3x − x 3 .
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