Chapter 3 Applications of The Derivative

3.1 Elementary Curve Sketching I

Motivating Example:
t : time, f  t  : some index number
Objective:
we want to know
 where f  t  is increasing and decreasing
 where the maximum or minimum of f  t  .
◆
Definition 1:
On an interval  a, b  , if a  x1  x2  b , if f  x1   f  x2  , then f is said to be
increasing. On the other hand, if f  x1   f  x2  , then f is said to be
decreasing.

Definition 2:
On an interval  a, b  , if a  x0  b , if f '  x0   0 or if f '  x0  does not exist,
then x0 is called a critical point or critical number of f .

Example 1:
f(x)

Let f  x  x . The critical point is 0 since f '  0 does not exist.

Theorem 1 (increasing and decreasing theorem):

Let f be differentiable for a  x  b and continuous for a  x  b .
(i) If f '  x   0 for every x in  a, b  , f is increasing on  a, b .
(ii) If f '  x   0 for every x in  a, b  , f is decreasing on  a, b .

1
[Intuition:]
f  x  x   f  x  f  x  x   f  x 
f '  x   0  lim  0  f '  x   lim 0
x 0 x x 0 x
 f  x  x   f  x   0

Definition 3 (maximum and minimum):

(i) f has a local maximum at x0 if there is an open interval  c, d 
containing x0 such that f  x0   f  x  for every x in  c, d  .
(ii) f has a local minimum at x0 if there is an open interval  c, d 
containing x0 such that f  x0   f  x  for every x in  c, d  .
(iii) f has a global maximum at x0 if f  x0   f  x  for every x in the
domain of f .
(iv) f has a global minimum at x0 if f  x0   f  x  for every x in the
domain of f .
Theorem 2:
Let f have a local maximum or minimum at x0 . Then, x0 is a critical
point of f .
[Intuition:]
Assume f have a local maximum at x0 . Then, f  x0   f  x  for every x in
 c, d  . Let x  0 and x0  x  d . Then,
f  x0  x   f  x0 
f  x0  x   f  x0   0,  0,
x
and
f  x0  x   f  x0 
f '  x0   lim 0 1 .
x0 x
Similarly, let x  0 and x0  x  c . Then,
f  x0  x   f  x0 
f  x0  x   f  x0   0, 0,
x
and
f  x0  x   f  x0 
f '  x0   lim 0  2 .
x0 x

By (1) and (2), f '  x0   0 .

Note:
x0 is a critical point of f does not imply f has a local maximum or
minimum at x0 .

2
Example 2:
20
10
f(x)
0
-10
-20

-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3

f  x   x 3  f '  x   3x 2  f '  0   0 .
0 is a critical point but not a local maximum or minimum.

Theorem 3 (first derivative test):

Let x0 be a critical point of f . f is continuous for a  x  b and
differentiable for a  x  b , except possibly at x0 itself.
(i) If f '  x   0 for a  x  x0 and f '  x   0 for x0  x  b , f has a local
maximum at x0 .
(ii) If f '  x   0 for a  x  x0 and f '  x   0 for x0  x  b , f has a local
maximum at x0 .
(iii) If f '  x   0 for a  x  b or f '  x   0 for a  x  b (except possibly at
x0 itself), f has neither a local maximum nor a local minimum at
x0 .
Example 3:

3
 f(x)

pi/3 5/3 pi 2 pi
x

x
Let f  x    sin  x  . Then,
2
1 1  5
f '  x   cos x   0  cos x    x  , .
2 2 3 3

0 x   x  5 5  x  2
3 3 3 3
decreasing increasing decreasing

 
f' 0
4
f    0
'

 
f ' 7  0
4

3.2 Elementary Curve Sketching II

Definition 4 (concavity):
Let f be differentiable in the interval  a, b  .
(i) f is concave up in the interval  a, b  if over that interval f '
is
increasing.
(ii) f is concave down in the interval  a, b  if over that interval f '
is
decreasing.

Definition 5 (point of inflection):

The point  x0 , f  x0   is a point of inflection of f if f changes its
direction of concavity at x0 . That is
(i) f is concave down in  c, x0  and concave up in  x0 , d  , i.e., f '  x is
decreasing in  c, x0  and increasing in  x0 , d  .

4
Or
(ii) f is concave up in  c, x0  and concave down in  x0 , d  , i.e., f '  x is
increasing in  c, x0  and decreasing in  x0 , d  .

Theorem 4 (the second derivative and concavity):

If f ''  x  exists on  a, b  . Thus,
(i) if f ''  x   0 in  a, b  . Then f is concave up in  a, b  .
(ii) if f ''  x   0 in  a, b  . Then f is concave down in  a, b  .

Theorem 5:
As a point of inflection  x0 , f  x0   , if f ''  x0  exists, then f ''  x0   0

Example 4:

Let f  x   x 4  4x 3 . Then,
f '  x   4 x 3  12 x 2 , f ''  x   12 x x  2   0  x  0, 2
40
20
f(x)

0
-20

0 2

  x  0 0 x2 2 x
Concave up Concave down Concave up
f ''
  1  0 f 1  0
''
f ''  3  0
◆

Theorem 6 (first and second derivative test):

5
 f is differentiable on an open interval and suppose that f ''  x0  exists.

(i) If f '  x0   0 and f ''  x0   0 , f has a local minimum at x0 .

(ii) If f '  x0   0 and f ''  x0   0 , f has a local maximum at x0 .

Example 5:

Let f  x   3x 5  5 x 3 . Then,

 
f '  x   15 x 4  15 x 2  15 x 2 1  x 2  0  x  1, 0, 1
6
4
2
f(x)
0
-2
-4
-6

-1 0 1

f  x   60 x 3  30 x
''

 x  1, f   1  2, f ''   1  30  0  local minimum at  1

.
 x  1, f 1  2, f '' 1  30  0  local maximum at 1
 x  0, f  0   0, f ''  0   0  0 is a reflection point

6
3.3 Elementary Curve Sketching III: Asymptotes

Definition 6 (horizontal asymptote):

lim f  x   c or lim f  x   c ,
x x

y  c is called a horizontal asymptote of the graph of f (see the figure

below).

c
f(x)

f(x)
y=c

Definition 7 (vertical asymptote):

Let a be a real number. If
lim f  x    or lim f  x    ,
xa  x  a

the vertical line x  a is called a vertical asymptote of the graph of f (see

the figure below).

7
 f(x)
x=a
f(x)

Definition 8 (other asymptotes):

If
lim f  x    mx  b    0 or, lim  f  x    mx  b    0 ,
x  x

the line y  mx  b is an asymptote of the graph of f (see the figure

below). If m  0 , y  mx  b is called an oblique asymptote to the curve
(see the figure below).
f(x)

f(x)
y=mx+b

Definition 9 (symmetry about the y-axis and the origin):

If f   x   f  x  , then f is symmetric about the y-axis (see the figure

8
below).

y-axis
f(x)

-4 -2 0 2 4
x

If f   x    f  x  , then f is symmetric about the origin (see the figure

below).

-4 -2 0 2 4
x

Guidelines for Analyzing the Graph of a Function

1. Determine the domain and range of the function.
2. Determine the intercepts and asymptopes of the graph.
3. Locate the x-values where f '  x  and f ''  x  are either 0 or

9
 undefined. Use the previous theorem to determine local maximum
or minimum and points of inflection.

Example 6:
x2  2x  4
Analyze the graph of f  x   .
x2
[solution:]
1. The domain of the function is   ,     2
The vertical asymptote is x  2 since

lim f  x   , lim f  x    .
x2 x2

There is no horizontal asymptote since

lim f  x   , lim f  x    .
x  x

The oblique asymptote is y  x since

4 4
f  x  x   lim f  x   x   lim 0
x2 x  x  x2
4
 lim  f  x   x   lim 0
x  x  x  2

The first derivative is

x 2  4 x x x  4
f '  x  
 x  2 2  x  2 2
and the second derivative is
8
f ''  x  
 x  2 3 .
Thus, the critical points are 0, 2, 4.
f  x f '
 x f ''
 x
  x  0 Increasing  0 , Decreasing 0
0 x2 Decreasing  0 , Decreasing 0
2 x4 Decreasing  0 , Increasing 0
4x Increasing  0 , Iecreasing 0
x  0:

 f '  x   0,  x  0
the first derivative test:  '  f has a local maximum at 0.
 f  x   0, 0  x  2

the second derivative test: f '  0  0, f ''  0  0  f has a local maximum at 0.

10
x 4:

 f '  x   0, 2  x  4
the first derivative test:  '  f has a local minimum at 0.
 f  x   0, 4  x  

the second derivative test: f '  4  0, f ''  4  0  f has a local minimum at 0.

(4,6)
6
f(x)

-2
(0,-2)

f(x)
y=x
x=2

0 2 4

3.4 Applications of Maxima and Minima

Assume f is continuous. The following is the procedure to find
maximum and minimum values over a closed interval  a, b :
1. evaluate f at all critical points in  a, b  ,
2. evaluate f  a  and f  b  ,
then the maximum value is the largest of the values calculated in steps 1
and 2 while the minimum value is the smallest of the values calculated in
steps 1 and 2.

Example 7:
Find the maximum and minimum values of f  x   2 x 3  3 x 2  12 x  5 in the interval
 0,4
[solution:]
1. f '  x   6 x 2  6 x  12  6 x  2 x  1  f '  x   0  x  1, 2 .
Then, f  2   15 .
2. f  0  5, f  4  37 .

11
Therefore, the maximum value is 37 while the minimum value is -15.

37 (4,37)

f(x)

(2,-15)
-15

0 2 4

Procedure for Solving an Applied Maximum or Minimum

Problem
1. Write all the information in the problem in mathematical terms,
giving a letter name to each variable
2. Determine the variable that is to be maximized or minimizsed and
write this variable as a function of some variable in the problem.
3. Determine the interval over which this one variable can be
defined.
4. Find the maximum or minimum.

Example 8:
A manufacturer wants to design an open box having a square base and a surface area
of 108 square inches. What dimensions will produce a box with maximum volume?
[solutions:]
1. Let x: base, h: height. Then,
V  volume  x 2 h, 108  x 2  4 xh.
2.
108  x 2 108  x 2 x3
h  V  V  x   x 2h  x 2   27 x  .
4x 4x 4
3.
x 2  4 xh  108  0  x  108

12
4. Therefore, we want to find the maximum of V  x   27 x 
x3
4

over 0, 108 .
Since
3x 2
V '  x   27   0  x  6
4
V  6   108, V  0  0, V 108  0  
V is maximized as x  6 .

108
(6,108)
V(x)

0 6 108^(1/2)

3.5 Newton’s Method for Solving Equations

Intuition of Newton’s method:

Suppose we want to find the solution of f  x   0. Let
f  xn 1   f  xn   f '  xn  xn 1  xn  ,

where xn 1 and xn are some values. If xn 1 is the solution, then

f  xn 1   f  xn   0  f  xn   f '  xn  xn 1  xn 
f  xn 
 xn 1  xn 
f '  xn 

f  x
That is, can be obtained by evaluating the function x  f '  x  at
xn 1 xn .

Starting from n  0 , i.e., x0 , the following sequence can be obtained,

13
 f  x0 
x1  x0  ,
f '  x0 
f  x1 
x2  x1  ,
f '  x1 

f  xn 
xn 1  xn 
f '  xn 

Example 9:

Let f  x   x 2  2 . Use x0  1 as the initial guess and find x1 , x2 , x3 .

[solutions:]
Since f '  x   2 x ,
f  xn  xn2  2 x 1
xn 1  xn   x   xn   n  
f  xn 
' n
2 xn  2 xn 
x 1
 n
2 xn
1 2
  xn  
2 xn 
n xn f  xn 
2
xn
xn  2
xn x n 1  1  x n  2 
2 xn 
0 1 2 3 1.5 -1
1 1.5 1.33333 2.83333 1.41666 0.25
2 1.41666 1.41176 2.82843 1.41421 0.006945
◆

Several questions need to be answered:

1. Is there a unique solution to f  x   0.
2. Converge or not??
3. How fast is the convergence??

Theorem 7 (unique solution):

f ' is continuous on  a, b  and
(i) f  a  and f  b  have different signs,
(ii) f '  x   0 on  a, b ,

14
then f  x   0 has a unique solution, s, on  a, b .

f(x) f(b) (b,f(b))

(a,f(a))
f(a)

a b

[Intuition:]
Since f '  x   0 on  a, b and f ' is continuous, then f '  x   0 on  a, b or
f '  x   0 on  a, b  . That is, f is increasing on  a, b  or decreasing on
 a, b . The figure above is the plot for f being increasing.

Theorem 8 (convergence):
f , f ' , f '' are continuous on  a, b  . Suppose that
(i) f  a  and f  b  have different signs,
(ii) f  x   m  0
'

(iii) f  x   M
''

M
(iv) 4
m
(v) x0   a, b .
Then,
(a) The sequence
f  xn 
xn 1  xn  , n  0, 1, 2,
f '  xn 

converge to the unique solution, s, of f  x   0 in  a, b .

(b) The convergence is quadratic. That is, each iterate is accurate to twice
as many decimal places as the one that precedes it.

15
Example 9 (continue):
Let  a, b   1,2 . Then,
(i) f 1  1, f  2   2 .
(ii) f '  x   2 x  2  m
(iii) f ''  x   2  2  M
M 2
(iv)  1 4
m 2
(v) x0  1  1,2   a, b
Then, by theorem 8, the sequence based on Newton’s method will converge to the true
solution and the convergence is quadratic.
◆

Note:
Another criterion for convergence is
f  x  f ''  x 
 1.
f '
 x  2
As the inequality is true, the sequence based on Newton’s method
converges to the solution of f  x   0 .

Example 9 (continue):

For x  1,2   a, b ,

f  x  f ''  x 

x 2
 2 2 1 1
  2  1,
f '
 x 2
4x 2
2 x

the sequence based on Newton’s method converges to the true solution.

◆

Note:
It is not necessary to check the conditions of theorem 7 and theorem
8. However, the following problem might happen:
(i) The sequence based on Newton’s method could grow without
bound or oscillate.
(ii) The sequence based on Newton’s method could converge to a
solution, but there could be other solutions that would be
missed.

16
17