Scribd
Upload
26 views9 pages

Presentation4 - Second Differentials Test

The second derivative test can be used to determine if a critical point of a function of one or two variables is a local maximum, minimum, or saddle point. For functions of one variable, the test involves taking the second derivative at a critical point and using the sign to determine if it is a maximum or minimum. For functions of two variables, the test involves taking the second partial derivatives at a critical point and using the discriminant AC-B^2 to determine if it is a maximum, minimum, or saddle point, where A, B, and C are the second partial derivatives.

Uploaded by

Ardhiansyah Ivan
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
26 views9 pages

Presentation4 - Second Differentials Test

The second derivative test can be used to determine if a critical point of a function of one or two variables is a local maximum, minimum, or saddle point. For functions of one variable, the test involves taking the second derivative at a critical point and using the sign to determine if it is a maximum or minimum. For functions of two variables, the test involves taking the second partial derivatives at a critical point and using the discriminant AC-B^2 to determine if it is a maximum, minimum, or saddle point, where A, B, and C are the second partial derivatives.

Uploaded by

Ardhiansyah Ivan
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 9

SECOND DERIVATIVE TEST

Dosen: Retnari Dian Mudiastuti, ST., M.Si

BASIC CONCEPTS & IDEAS

We begin by recalling the situation for twice differentiable functions f (x) of one variable. To find their local (or "relative") maxima and minima, we: 1. find the critical points, i.e., the solutions of f(x) = 0; 2. apply the second derivative test to each critical point xo: f (xo)> 0 xo is a local minimum point; f (xo)< 0 xo is a local maximum point.

The idea behind it


At xo the slope f (xo) = 0; if f (xo) > 0, then f (x) is strictly increasing for x near xo, so that the slope is negative to the left of xo and positive to the right, which shows that xo is a minimum point. The reasoning for the maximum point is similar. If f (xo)= 0, the test fails and one has to investigate further, by taking more derivatives, or getting more information about the graph. Besides being a maximum or minimum, such a point could also be a horizontal point of inflection.

Maxima And Minima of Functions Of Two Variables F (x,y)


The second-derivative test for maxima, minima, and saddle points has two steps. 1. Find the critical points by solving the simultaneous equations fx(x, Y) = 0, fy(x,y) = 0. Since a critical point (xo, yo) is a solution to both equations, both partial derivatives are zero there, so that the tangent plane to the graph of f (x, y) is horizontal. 2. To test such a point to see if it is a local maximum or minimum point, we calculate the three second derivatives at the point (we use subscript 0 to denote evaluation at (xO, yo), so for example (f )o = f (xo, yo)), and denote the values by A, B, and C:

(we are assuming the derivatives exist and are continuous).

SECOND-DERIVATIVE TEST
Let (xo, yo) be a critical point off (x, y), and A, B, and C be as in (1). Then: AC B2 > 0, A > 0 or C > 0 (xo, yo) is a minimum point; AC B2 > 0, A < 0 or C < 0 (x0, yo) is a maximum point; AC B2< 0 (xo, yo)is a saddle point. If AC -B2 = 0, the test fails and more investigation is needed. Note that if AC -B2 > 0, then AC > 0, so that A and C must have the same sign.

Saddle point: local minimax point; around such a point the graph of f (x, y) looks like the central part of a saddle, or the region around the highest point of a mountain pass. In the neighborhood of a saddle point, the graph of the function lies both above and below its horizontal tangent plane at the point.

Example 1

Find the critical points of w = 12x2+ y3 -12xy and determine their type.

Solution
We calculate the partial derivatives easily: To find the critical points we solve simultaneously the equations w,= 0 and w, = 0; we get Thus there are two critical points: (0,O) and (1,2). To determine their type, we use the second derivative test: AC -B2 = 144y -144, at (O,O), AC -B2 = -144, so it is a saddle point; at (1,2), AC -B2 = 144 and A > 0, so it is a minimum point.

The graph

A plot of the level curves is given at the right, which confirms the above. Note that the behavior of the level curves near the origin can be determined by using the approximation w z 12x2 -12xy; this shows the level curves near (0,O) look like those of x(x -y), which are hyperbolas with asymptotes x(x -y) = 0, i.e., the y-axis (x = 0) and the diagonal line (x -y =O).

The graph
Using u = x -xo and v = y -yo, we can apply the chain rule for partial derivatives, which tells us that for all x, y and the corresponding u, v, we have

You might also like