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Increasing and Decreasing Functions

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Increasing and Decreasing Functions

Uploaded by

Gaming star
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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There are tremendous applications of calculus, one of them are to find slop of

any function. Slop of any function tell us that how fast the function changes at
that specific point.
How to find slop of the function?

Say we have a function f(x), if we take first derivative of that function d/dx f(x) that new
function provides the slop function of f(x).

Why to find slop of the function?

Well as I said slop tells how fast the value of the function changes at specific point, means
that how the function increasing or decreasing on that interval. So now you have hands on
tangent of any function.

What is increasing and decreasing functions?

Increasing and decreasing functions are functions that change their values in different
ways as their input values change. For example, if you have a function that measures the
temperature of a city, you might want to know if the temperature is increasing or
decreasing over time.

One way to study the behavior of functions is to look at their graphs, which show how the
function values change as the input values change. Another way is to use calculus, which
involves finding the derivative of a function and using it to check if the function is
increasing or decreasing on certain intervals.

Definition:
Let f be a function with domain of the set D. Then f has an absolute maximum value on D at
a point c if f(x) ≤ f(x) for all x in D and an absolute minimum value on D at if f(x) ≥ f(c) for
all x in D.

By the above definition we assumed that maximum and minimum of the function is defined
for the specific interval of the function.

As the maximum and minimum values are absolute (exact) so it is not defined for the value
say c if function is not defined for c.
For example:

y = x2, D = [2, 4] contains both maxima and minima,

y = x2 D = (2, 4] contains maxima but not minima,

y = x2 D = [2, 4) contains minima but not maxima,

y = x2 D = (2, 4) does not contains both maxima and minima.

From the above example we can say that if a function is continuous on finite interval then
their maximum and minimum values are defined.

Extreme Value Theorem:


states that if a function f(x) such that function is continuous on a closed interval [a, b] and
at specific points say x1 and x2 the function have extreme values and say f(x1) = m and f(x2)
= n such that m is absolute minimum and n is absolute maximum of the function f(x). We
can write as m ≤ f(x) ≤ n where for all x on [a, b].

By the Extreme Value Theorem we can assumed that a function which has absolute
extreme should be continuous and has a closed interval.

Extreme Value Theorem defines absolute extremes what if a function changes their value
reaching lower and higher points but not lowest or highest of the function. We called that
points local extremes (local minimum and local maximum).
Definition:
A function ƒ has a local maximum value at a point c within its Domain D if ƒ(x) ≤ ƒ(c) for all x
∊ D lying in some open interval containing c.

A function ƒ has a local minimum value at a point c within its domain D if ƒ(x) ≥ ƒ(c) for all x
∊ D lying in some open interval containing c.

Local extrema is also called Relative extrema.

Absolute extrema is define for a closed interval of the function but local extrema is define
for small interval of that closed interval. Say a function f(x) is defined for interval [a, b],
their absolute extrema is at point a and b. If I say there is a point c in between [a, b] where
function has local maximum we write their interval as (c-α, c+α), α>0. So we can say that
local extrema is defined for open interval too.

Every Absolute extrema is also local extrema but every local extrema is not absolute
extrema.
The First Derivative theorem for Local Extreme Values:
If ƒ has a local maximum or minimum value at an interior point c of its domain, and if ƒ′ is
defined at c, then ƒ′(c) = 0.

Why ƒ′(c) taken equal to zero?

Because we need to find local extrema, and we know that at local extrema the slop is zero
(neither positive nor negative) so there is only one number which give zero slop point
which is zero.

Possible Extreme values could be:

1. ƒ′(c) = 0.
2. ƒ′(c) = ∞.
3. At end points of the interval.

Definition An interior point of the domain of a function ƒ where ƒ′ is zero or undefined is a


critical point of ƒ.
If I say at critical point the function has local extrema always, will it be right?

No, it is wrong at critical point the point could be local extrema but not always.
Here in the figure we have critical point at origin but it is not local extrema.

Find the absolute maximum and minimum values of ƒ(x) = x2 on [-2, 1].

Solution:
ƒ′(x) = 2x
Take this value equal to zero as:

2x = 0
So the function has critical point at

x=0
Now check the function f(x) for end points of the interval

ƒ (-2) = (-2)2 = 4

ƒ (1) = (1)2 = 1
So from the above result we assumed that the function ƒ(x) has maximum value 4 at x = -2
and minimum value 0 at x = 0.

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