Lecture Notes - Section 4.

Recall from chapter 2 that

1. If f0 > 0 on an interval, then f is increasing on that interval

2. If f0 < 0 on an interval, then f is decreasing on that interval

3. If f 00 > 0 on an interval, then the graph of f is concave up on that interval

4. If f 00 < 0 on an interval, then the graph of f is concave down on that

interval.

We can get lot of information about the function and its graph based on its rst

and second derivatives. The following example will illustrate this in detail.

Example 1
Consider the function f (x) = x3 + 3x2 − 9x − 15. Find the intervals where f (x)

is increasing/decreasing and the intervals where the graph of f (x) is concave

up/down. Try to sketch f (x) based on this information. We will start with the

rst derivative f 0 (x). Here

f 0 (x) = 3x2 + 6x − 9 = 3(x2 + 2x − 3) = 3(x + 3)(x − 1)

1
To decide on what interval(s) f 0 (x) is > 0 or < 0, rst we will nd when

f 0 (x) = 0. Here it will happen when x = −3 and x = 1. Mark these lines on a

straight line. These numbers will divide the line into 3 intervals as shown. We

will talk about the arrows in the picture below.

Our f 0 (x) is a well-behaved function which means it will be either positive

or negative in any of these 3 intervals. Once in an interval, f 0 (x) will not keep

changing from positive to negative or the other way. This fact is important

because we can pick any number from each of these intervals, plug

that number into f 0 (x) and test whether f 0 (x) is positive or negative. So,

for x < −3, pick x = −4 and plug it into f 0 (x) = 3(x + 3)(x − 1). Clearly it

is positive. This means that for x < −3, f is increasing. We indicate this by

an arrow going up in our picture. Again, for −3 < x < 1, you can pick x=0

as a test number. At x = 0, f 0 (x) is negative which means for −3 < x < 1,

f is decreasing as shown by the arrow pointing down. For x > 1, pick x = 2,

plug in to f 0 (x) and we see that f 0 (x) is again positive which means that f (x)

is increasing for x > 1. We also need to know to what value f (x) increases at

x = −3 before it starts decreasing and similarly, to what value f (x) decreases

at x=1 before it starts increasing again. So, we need the y coordinates of the

points when f 0 (x) = 0. Plug in x = −3 and x=1 in the original f (x). So,

f (−3) = 12

and

f (1) = −20.

With this information we can sketch a graph of f. Please note that the arrows

2
we drew in the above picture should guide us about how the graph goes and

the above numbers will tell us how high/low our graph will go before it starts

turning around.

12 local max

-20 local min

-3 1

Now let us look at some important denitions based on this example. Here

we see that f reaches its local maximum at x = −3 and its local minimum

at x = 1. Let us dene these terms more formally.

0.0.1 Local Maximum and Local Minimum

Suppose x = a is a point in the domain of f (x). We say that f has a local

maximum at x=a if f (a) is more than or equal to the values of f (x) near a.

Also, f has a local mimimum at x=a if f (a) is less than or equal to the values

of f (x) near x = a. We use the term local because the function could attain a

higher/lower value elsewhere in that interval as shown below.

3
 10

5
local max

local max

local min

local min
-5

-10
-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4

0.0.2 How to nd local max/min?

In the previous example, the points x = −3 and x = 1 were important with

deciding the local max/min of f. We will give a special name to these points.

Critical Points: For a function f a point x=a in the domain of f where

f 0 (a) = 0 (or f 0 (a) is undened) is called a critical point. The value of f at a

is called a critical value. At a critical point when f0 = 0 we have a horizontal

tangent and when f0 is undened we have a vertical tangent (or no tangent at

all). In our case, we will focus on f 0 (a) = 0 for the denition of critical point.

The following theorem emphasizes the importance of nding critical points

in any problem where we have to nd local max/min of a function.

Theorem 1:
Suppose f is dened on an interval and has a local max/min at x=a (which is

not the end point of the interval). If f is dierentiable at x=a then f 0 (a) = 0.

Thus x=a is a critical point.

This theorem means that for a continuous function f (x), the local maximum

4
and minimum (if any) can happen only at any of the critical points and no where

else. A function may or may not have a local max/min. This means a critical

point need not always be a local max/min. So we have the following test for

deciding whether any critical point is a local max/min.

First Derivative Test (Important)

Suppose x=a is a critical point of f. If the sign of f0 changes from positive to

negative at x=a (which means f changes from increasing to decreasing) then

x=a is a local maximum. If the sign of f0 changes from negative to positive

at x=a (which means f changes from decreasing to increasing) then x=a is

a local maximum. If the sign of f0 remains the same at x=a then x=a is

neither a local max nor a local min.

The following is an alternate test to decide whether a critical point is a

local max/min if we are not interested in knowing the intervals of increas-

ing/decreasing of f. This uses the second derivative f .

Second Derivative Test

• If f 0 (a) = 0 AND f 00 (a) > 0 then f has a local MINIMUM at x = a.

• If f 0 (a) = 0 AND f 00 (a) < 0 then f has a local MAXIMUM at x = a.

• If f 0 (a) = 0 AND f 00 (a) = 0 then this test fails to reach a conclusion. We

have to go back and do the rst derivative test.

Example
Use the second derivative test to classify the critical points of f (x) = x3 + 3x2 −

9x − 15. (same example we started with)

5
 So f 0 (x) = 3x2 + 6x − 9. We have already seen that the critical points of this

f (x) (that is when f 0 (x) = 0) are x = −3 and x = 1. Now nd f 00 (x) which is

f 00 (x) = 6x + 6. When x = −3, f 00 (x) < 0 which means we have a local max

and when x = 1, f 00 (x) > 0 which means local min (which agrees with what we

found earlier).

Inection Point
We know that when f 00 > 0, the graph of f is concave up and when f 00 < 0, the

graph of f is concave down. The point where the transition occurs, i.e when

f 00 = 0 is called an inection point. So the graph of a function changes from

concave up/down to concave down/up only at inection points.

Example:
Find the inection point(s) of f (x) = x3 + 3x2 − 9x − 15.

f 0 (x) = 3x2 + 6x − 9 =⇒ f 00 (x) = 6x + 6. Inection point happens when

f 00 (x) = 0 which means 6x = −6 or x = −1.

Let us do a few examples before we conclude this section.

Example 1:

Use the rst derivative test to nd the intervals where f (x) = x5 − 15x3 + 10

is increasing/decreasing and to nd any possible local max/min.

Solution: First nd the critical point(s). f 0 (x) = 5x4 −45x2 = 5x2 (x2 −9) =

0 when x = 0 and when x2 − 9 = 0 which means x = 3, −3. So the critical points

are -3, 0 and 3. Any local max/min can happen only at any of these points and

no where else. Draw a line and mark the critical points in increasing order. We

thus get 4 intervals.

• x < −3, Pick a test number, say x = −4 and plug into f 0 (x) = 5x2 (x2 − 9)

and we see that f 0 > 0. So f is increasing for x < −3.

6
 • −3 < x < 0, Pick a test number, say x = −1 and plug into f 0 (x) =

5x2 (x2 − 9) and we see that f 0 < 0. So f is decreasing for −3 < x < 0.

• 0 < x < 3, Pick a test number, say x = 1 and plug into f 0 (x) = 5x2 (x2 −9)

and we see that again, f 0 < 0. So f is decreasing for 0 < x < 3.

• x > 3, Pick a test number, say x=4 and plug into f 0 (x) = 5x2 (x2 − 9)

and we see that f 0 > 0. So f is increasing for x > 3.

So before x = −3, f increases and afterward, f decreases. So we have a local

max at x = −3. The local max value is f (−3) which you can compute. Also,

before x = 3, f decreases and after x = 3 f increases which means x = 3 is

a local minimum and the local min value is f (1) which you can compute. At

x = 0, there is no sign change for f 0, it is negative both before and after x = 0.

So neither local max nor local min at x = 0.

Example 2

Find the values of a and b so that f (x) = x2 + ax + b has a local max at

(3,2)

Solution:

The most important thing you should keep in mind is Theorem 1, that is

local max (or local min) will and can happen only at a critical point. So if f

has a critical point at x = 3, f 0 at x=3 is 0. Here, f 0 = 2x + a = 6 + a at

x = 3.So a = −6. To nd b, use the given point, i.e when x = 3, y = 2. This

gives b = 11.