Increasing & decreasing intervals review

How do I find increasing &

decreasing intervals with
differential calculus?
The intervals where a function is increasing (or decreasing)
correspond to the intervals where its derivative is positive (or
negative).

So if we want to find the intervals where a function increases or

decreases, we take its derivative an analyze it to find where it's
positive or negative (which is easier to do!).

Example 1
Let's find the intervals where f(x)=x^3+3x^2-9x+7 is increasing or
decreasing. First, we differentiate f(x):

f'(x)=3x^2+6x-9
Now we want to find the intervals where f' is positive or negative.

f'(x)=3(x+3)(x-1)

f' intersects the x-axis when x=-3 and x=1, so its sign must be
constant in each of the following intervals:
Let's evaluate \[f'\] at each interval to see if it's positive or negative on
that interval.

So f is increasing when x<-3 or when x>1 and decreasing when -

3<x<1.

Example 2
Let's find the intervals where f(x)=x^6-3x^5 is increasing or
decreasing. First, we differentiate f:

f'(x)=6x^5-15x^4
Now we want to find the intervals where f' is positive or negative.

f'(x)=3x^4(2x-5)

f' intersects the x-axis when x=0 and x=5/2, so its sign must be
constant in each of the following intervals:

Let's evaluate f' at each interval to see if it's positive or negative on

that interval.
 Since f decreases before x=0 and after x=0, it also decreases
at x=0.

Therefore, f is decreasing when x<5/2 and increasing when x>5/2.

Check your understanding

PROBLEM 1

 Current


\[h(x)=-x^3+3 x^2+9\]

On which intervals is \[h\] decreasing?

Choose 1 answer:
Choose 1 answer:
 (Choice A)

\[(2,\infty)\] only
A

\[(2,\infty)\] only
 (Choice B)

\[(0,2)\] only
 B

\[(0,2)\] only
 (Choice C)

\[(-\infty,0)\] and \[(2,\infty)\]

C

\[(-\infty,0)\] and \[(2,\infty)\]

 (Choice D)

\[(0,\infty)\] only
D

\[(0,\infty)\] only
 (Choice E)

All real numbers (excluding \[0\] and \[2\])

E

All real numbers (excluding \[0\] and \[2\])

CheckExplain

Want to try more problems like this? Check out this exercise.
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akuppili45

7 years ago
Posted 7 years ago. Direct link to akuppili45's post “Is this also called the 1...”
 Is this also called the 1st derivative test?

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the 1...”

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Bruh

7 years ago
Posted 7 years ago. Direct link to Bruh's post “In summation, it's the 1s...”

In summation, it's the 1st derivative test. Specifically, it's the 'Increasing/Decreasing test':

Increasing/Decreasing test:

If f'(x) > 0 on an interval, then f is increasing on that interval

If f'(x) < 0 on an interval, then f is decreasing on that interval

First derivative test:

If f' changes from (+) to (-) at a critical number, then f has a local max at that
critical number
If f' changes from (-) to (+) at a critical number, then f has a local min at that
 critical number
If f' has no sign changes at that critical number, then f' has no local min nor max at the critical
number.

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bhunter3

4 years ago
Posted 4 years ago. Direct link to bhunter3's post “I'm finding it confusing ...”

I'm finding it confusing when a point is undefined in both the original function and the derivative.
While not mentioned in the video on critical points, it's mentioned in the comments and practice
problems that a point is not a critical point if it's undefined in both the derivative and in the original
function.

On the other hand, in the practice problems, we're given something like:

f'(x) = ((x-1)^2) / (x-4)

and asked to find the intervals over which the original function is increasing. The question states that
the original function is undefined at x = 4. According to the definition, x = 4 should not be a critical
point because it's undefined in both the derivative and the original function. However, it is a point of
interest as f'(x) > 0 only when x > 4. If we don't consider x = 4 we won't find the right answer.

Is this an issue with the definition of critical points, the practice problem itself, or this method of
finding increasing or decreasing intervals?

If it's the practice problem, I could imagine that maybe it's impossible for a function with that
derivative to be undefined at 4 (though it seems unlikely.)

If it's this method, it seems like we need to consider points that aren't strictly critical points as per the
definition.
 I think a little more clarity around this particular case in this section and the one before would be
helpful.

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bhunter3

4 years ago
Posted 4 years ago. Direct link to bhunter3's post “I found the answer to my ...”

I found the answer to my question in the next section. Under "Finding relative extrema (first
derivative test)" it says:

When we analyze increasing and decreasing intervals, we must look for all points where
the derivative is equal to zero and all points where the function or its derivative are
undefined. If you miss any of these points, you will probably end up with a wrong sign
chart.

I'll leave my question here because I think it's confusing for this section to only discuss critical points
and not to mention this.

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Aztec Binaynay

7 years ago
Posted 7 years ago. Direct link to Aztec Binaynay's post “for the notation of findi...”

for the notation of finding the increasing/decreasing intervals of a function, can you use the notation
Union (U) to express more than one interval?

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Cesar Sandoval

7 years ago
Posted 7 years ago. Direct link to Cesar Sandoval's post “Yes. For example, the fun...”

Yes. For example, the function -x^3+3x^2+9 is decreasing for x<0 and x>2. Another way we can
express this: domain = (-∞,0) U (2, +∞). This is known as interval notation.
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Daniel Leles

6 years ago
Posted 6 years ago. Direct link to Daniel Leles's post “Is x^3 increasing on (-∞,...”

Is x^3 increasing on (-∞,∞) or is it increasing on two open intervals and is increasing on (-

∞,0)U(0,∞)?

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Mark Geary

6 years ago
Posted 6 years ago. Direct link to Mark Geary's post “f(x) = x³ is increasing o...”
 f(x) = x³ is increasing on (-∞,∞).

A function f(x) increases on an interval I if f(b) ≥ f(a) for all b > a, where a,b in I.
If f(b) > f(a) for all b>a, the function is said to be strictly increasing.

domain = ℝ
x³ is not strictly increasing, but it does meet the criteria for an increasing function throughout it's

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Maria

5 years ago
Posted 5 years ago. Direct link to Maria's post “What does it mean to say ...”

What does it mean to say that the slope of a function is increasing or decreasing? Not when the
function is increasing or decreasing, but the slope. Is it the same thing? I'm having some trouble
with calculus homework that is treating it as if they aren't the same thing.

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 bhunter3

4 years ago
Posted 4 years ago. Direct link to bhunter3's post “I think that if the probl...”

I think that if the problem is asking you specifically whether the slope of the tangent line to the
function is increasing or decreasing, then it is asking whether the second derivative of the
function is positive or negative.

When we want to know if the function is increasing or decreasing, we take the derivative of the
function and check if the derivative (slope of the tangent) is positive or negative. But if we want to
know whether that derivative is increasing or decreasing (whether the slope is increasing or
decreasing), we'd take its derivative. The derivative of the "slope" would be the second derivative of
the original function.

I'm betting we get to this a bit later when we start talking about using second derivatives to analyze
functions.

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mitchellqmj

5 years ago
Posted 5 years ago. Direct link to mitchellqmj's post “Using only the values giv...”

Using only the values given in the table for the function, f(x) = x3 – 3x – 2, what is the interval of x-
values over which the function is decreasing?

(–4, 1)
(–4, –1)
 (–1,1)
(–1, 2)

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Jerry Nilsson

Posted 5 years ago. Direct link to Jerry Nilsson's post “(−4) < 𝑓(−1), so 𝑓 ca...”
5 years ago

(−4) < 𝑓(−1), so 𝑓 can not be decreasing over (−4, −1) and thereby not over (−4, 1) either.

(−1) = 𝑓(2), so 𝑓 can not be decreasing over (−1, 2)

𝑓(−1) > 𝑓(1), so it is possible that 𝑓 is decreasing over (−1, 1)

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 James

6 months ago
Posted 6 months ago. Direct link to James's post “how would a question on t...”

how would a question on the test look like for these types of questions?

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Venkata

6 months ago
Posted 6 months ago. Direct link to Venkata's post “They'll probably give you...”

They'll probably give you a function and ask you to write out the intervals on which it increases and
decreases. You'll have to then show the whole process of taking derivatives, finding critical points,
using either the first or second derivative test, and figuring out the behaviour of the function on each
of the intervals.

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SIRI MARAVANTHE

5 years ago
Posted 5 years ago. Direct link to SIRI MARAVANTHE's post “How do we decide if y=cos...”

How do we decide if y=cos3x increasing or decreasing in the interval [0,3.14/2]

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Gabby

9 months ago
Posted 9 months ago. Direct link to Gabby's post “We can tackle the trigono...”

We can tackle the trigonometric functions in the same way we do polynomials or rational functions!
We take the derivative of y, giving us dy/dx = -3sin3x. Then, we find where this derivative is equal to
zero or is undefined - this tells us all the possible x-values where the derivative might change from
positive to negative, or negative to positive. Then we figure out where dy/dx is positive or negative.
Since we know functions are increasing where their derivatives are positive, and decreasing where
their derivatives are negative, we can then use this knowledge to figure out if the function is
increasing or decreasing.