Derivative functions > Points of inflection
1234Points of inflection

Solutions to the exercises

Exercise 1
a

f ' ' ( x ) = 3 x + 12 = 0 gives you x = -4 . Inflection point ( -4 , -26 ) .

b

y ' ' ( x ) = 8 - 6 x 2 = 0 gives you x = ± 4 3 . Inflection points ( - 4 3 , 40 9 ) and ( 4 3 , 40 9 ) .

Exercise 2
a

[ -15 , 15 ] × [ -1500 , 1500 ]

b

f ( x ) = g ( x ) gives you x = 0 x = ± ( 148 ) .
Solution: - 148 < x < 0 0 < x < 148 .

c

g ' ' ( x ) = 3 x 2 - 72 = 0 gives you x = ± 24 , so ( ± 24 , -720 ) .

d

g ' ( 24 ) = -48 24 and g ' ( - 24 ) = 48 24 .
The intersect of the two inflection point tangents lies on the y -axis, therefore ( 0 , 432 ) .

Exercise 3
a

T C ' ' = 3 q - 8 = 0 gives you q = 8 3 .
That is about 167 kg.

b

T P = q ( 11 - q ) - ( 0,5 q 3 - 4 q 2 + 11 q + 4 ) = -0,5 q 3 + 3 q 2 - 4 and T P ' = -1,5 q 2 + 6 q .
T P ' = 0 when q = 0 q = 4 .
The maximum profit is seen at a production volume of 400 kg.

Exercise 4
a

x = -2 and x = 3

b

x = 1 2 because the first derivative has a minimum at that value.

c

Negative, because f ' ( 1 2 ) < 0 .

Exercise 5
a

f ' ( x ) = 4 x 3 + 2 a x = 0 gives you x = 0 x = ± - 1 2 a and because a > 0 this root cannot be a real number. Therefore only x = 0 is a zero (x-intersect) of the derivative. Since f ' moves from negative to positive for x = 0 then f ( 0 ) must be a minimum.

b

f ' ' ( x ) = 12 x 2 + 2 a = 0 gives you x = ± - 1 6 a and because a > 0 this root cannot be a real number. Therefore f ' ' does not have any zeros (x-intersects) and thus no inflection points.

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