Chapter 4

Graphing
and
Optimization

Section 4
Curve Sketching
Techniques

Barnett, Calculus for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, Global Edition 1
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 1
 Modifying the Graphing Strategy

The graphing strategy discussed in a previous section omitted

the topic of asymptotes.
While polynomial functions do not have asymptotes, rational
functions can have them.
We will discover that logarithmic and exponential functions
can also have asymptotes.
Investigating asymptotes involves limits.
L’Hôpital’s rule is a tool for finding asymptotes for different
types of functions.

Barnett, Calculus for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, Global Edition 2
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 2
 Graphing Strategy-Final Version

Procedure
Step 1 Analyze f(x).
(A) Find the domain of f.
(B) Find the intercepts.
(C) Find asymptotes.

Step 2 Analyze f ´(x).

Find the partition numbers for f ´ and the critical
numbers of f.
Construct a sign chart for f ´(x), determine the
intervals on which f is increasing and decreasing,
and find local maxima and minima of f.

Barnett, Calculus for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, Global Edition 3
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 Graphing Strategy-Final Version
continued

Step 3 Analyze f ″(x).

Find the partition numbers for f ″(x).
Construct a sign chart for f ″(x), determine the
intervals on which f is convex and concave,
and find the inflection points of f.

Step 4 Sketch the graph of f.

Draw asymptotes and locate intercepts, local
maxima and minima, and inflection points.
Sketch in what you know from steps 1-3.
Plot additional points as needed and complete the
sketch.

Barnett, Calculus for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, Global Edition 4
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 4
 Example 1
x
Use the graphing strategy to graph f ( x)  x
.
e
x
Step 1 Analyze f ( x)   x .
e
Domain: All reals
x and y -intercept: (0,0)
x
Horizontal asymptote: lim  x
x   e

x 1
Apply L'Hopital's rule lim  x  lim  x  lim  e x 0
x   e x    e x  

y 0 is a horizontal asymptote as x   .
There is no vertical asymptote.

Barnett, Calculus for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, Global Edition 5
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 Example 1 continued
Step 2 Analyze f ´(x)
d  x  d
f ( x)  
dx  e  x
 
 dx
 x e x

d d
 x e x   e x  x 
dx dx
 xe x  e x e x ( x  1)
f(x) has a critical value at x = –1.
x = –1 is a partition number for f ´(x).
A sign chart reveals that f(x) decreases on (–∞, –1).
f has a local minimum at the point (–1, –e–1).
f(x) increases on (–1, ∞).

Barnett, Calculus for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, Global Edition 6
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 6
 Example 1 continued
Step 3 Analyze f ″(x).
d x x d d x
f ( x) 
dx
e ( x  1)  e
dx
 
x  1  ( x  1)
dx
e 

e x  ( x  1)e x
e x ( x  2)

x = –2 is a partition number.
A sign chart reveals that the
graph of f is concave on (–∞, –2).
f has an inflection point at (–2, –2e–2).
f is convex on (–2, ∞).

Barnett, Calculus for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, Global Edition 7
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 Example 1 continued

Step 4 Sketch the graph of f using the information from steps

1-3.

Barnett, Calculus for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, Global Edition 8
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 Definition Oblique Asymptote

If a graph approaches a line that is neither horizontal nor

vertical as x approaches ∞ or –∞, then that line is called an
oblique asymptote.

If f(x) = n(x)/d(x) is a rational function for which the degree

of n(x) is 1 more than the degree of d(x), then using
polynomial division, we can write f(x) = mx + b + r(x)/d(x),
where the degree of r(x) is less than the degree of d(x).
The line y = mx + b is then an oblique asymptote for the
graph of y = f(x).

Barnett, Calculus for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, Global Edition 9
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 9
 Example 2 Modeling Average Cost
Given the cost function C(x) = 5,000 + 0.5x2, where x is the
number of items produced, use the graphing strategy to
analyze the graph of the average cost function.
5, 000  0.5 x 2 5, 000
Solution Average cost is C ( x)    0.5 x.
x x
Step 1 Analyze C ( x).
(A) Domain: A negative number of items cannot be produced and
C (0) is not defined, the domain is the set of positive real numbers.
(B) Intercepts: None

Barnett, Calculus for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, Global Edition 10
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 Example 2 Modeling Average Cost
continued
am x m 0.5 x 2
(C) Horizontal asymptote: n
 0.5 x
bn x x

There is no horizontal asymptote.

Vertical asymptote: The line x = 0 is a vertical asymptote

since the denominator of the average cost function is zero and
the numerator is not 0 when x = 0.
 5, 000 
Oblique asymptote: lim C ( x) lim   0.5 x  0.5 x
x  x 
 x 

y = 0.5x is an oblique asymptote for the average cost

function.

Barnett, Calculus for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, Global Edition 11
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education Ltd. Slide 11
 Example 2 Modeling Average Cost
continued
Step 2 Analyze C ( x)
2
 5, 000 0.5 x  5, 000
C ( x)  2
 0.5 
x x2
0.5( x  100)( x  100)

x2
Partition numbers for C ( x) are 0 and 100.
100 is a critical number of C( x).

The sign chart indicates that the function

is decreasing on (0, 100) and increasing
on (100, ∞).
There is a local minimum at (100, 100).
Barnett, Calculus for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, Global Edition 12
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 Example 2 Modeling Average Cost
continued
Step 3 Analyze C ( x)

 10, 000
C ( x) 
x3
C ( x) is positive whenever x is positive.
The graph of C( x) is concave upward on (0, ).

Barnett, Calculus for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, Global Edition 13
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 Example 2 Modeling Average Cost
continued
Step 4 Sketch the graph of C ( x).

The marginal cost

function is C´(x) = x.

Important Economic
Principle:

Minimum average
cost occurs when the
average cost is equal
to the marginal cost.

Barnett, Calculus for Business, Economics, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences, 14e, Global Edition 14
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