Absolute extrema, Concavity and Points of Inflection
Extreme Value Theorem:
If f(x) is continuous on closed interval [a,b] then function f has both an absolute minimum and absolute maximum value in the interval.
While the extreme value theorem guarantees the existence of absolute maximum and minimum value, it doesn’t tell us where they are. Follwoing steps are used to find absolute extrema for a function:
- Find first derivative and set it equal to 0 to find critical values.
- Plugin critical points and end points of given interval into original function and find the values at these points.
- Greatest of all these values would be absolute maximum and smallest of these values would be the absolute minimum.
Note : Absolute maximum or minimum are also called global maximum or minimum.
Example 1: Find maximum and minimum values of k(x) on interval
Step 1: Find derivative of given function using chain rule.
Step 2: Set the derivative =0 and solve for x to get critical points.
Using zero product rule, either exponential part would be 0 or cosx would be 0. But exponential function is never 0 so we set only cosx equal to 0.
Step 3: Plugin these two critical points as well as end points of given interval into function k(x).
Step 4: When we compare the above values, we got that 0.36 is the smallest and e is the greatest among them.
Therefore,
Absolute maximum value of k(x) is ‘e’ at
Absolute minimum value of k(x) is at
Example 2: Find absolute maximum and minimum value of given function on given interval.
Points of Inflection
Points of inflection are those where a function changes its concavity. These are the points where a function’s graph changes from concave up to concave down or viceversa.
How to get points of inflection?
To get points of inflection, we find second derivative of given function, set it equal to 0 and solve for x.
What are possible points of inflection (PPOI) ?
PPOI are the x values where the second derivative of function is 0 or it doesn’t exist.
Are all PPOI are actually points of inflection?
Are all points where second derivative is 0 or doesn’t exist, points of inflection?
No, it is not necessary that all those points where second derivative is 0 or undefined, are points of inflection. Sometimes concavity doesn’t change at these points when we test the intervals. For example, for a function , second derivative is 0 at x=0 but still concavity doesn’t change at this point. So x=0 is not a point of inflection though second derivative is 0 here.
Find intervals of concave up and down from a derivative graph.
Find increasing/decreasing intervals, relative extrema , intervals of concavity and points of inflection from a given derivative graph