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Appli Cs

This document covers key concepts in differentiation including: 1. L'Hopital's rule for evaluating limits of indeterminate forms. 2. Definitions of increasing, decreasing, concave up and concave down functions. 3. Using the first and second derivative tests to classify local extrema and points of inflection. 4. Sketching graphs using knowledge of asymptotes, monotonic intervals, and critical points.

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44 views5 pages

Appli Cs

This document covers key concepts in differentiation including: 1. L'Hopital's rule for evaluating limits of indeterminate forms. 2. Definitions of increasing, decreasing, concave up and concave down functions. 3. Using the first and second derivative tests to classify local extrema and points of inflection. 4. Sketching graphs using knowledge of asymptotes, monotonic intervals, and critical points.

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hazrol
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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MSM1Aa MATHS CORE A: APPLICATIONS OF

DIFFERENTIATION

pitals Rule for Limits


1. LHo
Fact 1.1. Suppose that x1 < a < x2 , that f an g are differentiable on (x1 , x2 ) and
that g 0 (a) 6= 0. Suppose also that
(1) limxa f (x) = limxa g(x) = 0 and
(2) limxa
Then

f 0 (x)
exists.
g 0 (x)
f (x)
f 0 (x)
= lim 0
.
xa g(x)
xa g (x)
lim

2. Increasing and Decreasing Functions


Definition 2.1. Let f be a real-valued function f of a real variable and let I = (x1 , x2 )
be an interval in dom(f ). Then f is said to be:
(1) increasing (non-decreasing) on I if f (a) f (b) whenever a, b I and a < b;
(2) strictly increasing on I if f (a) < f (b) whenever a, b I and a < b;
(3) decreasing (non-increasing) on I if f (a) f (b) whenever a, b I and a < b;
(4) strictly decreasing on I if f (a) > f (b) whenever a, b I and a < b.
Fact 2.2. Let f be a real-valued function of a real variable that is differentiable on
I = (x1 , x2 ).
(1) f 0 (x) 0 for all x I if and only if f is non-decreasing on I.
(2) If f 0 (x) > 0 for all x I, then f is strictly increasing on I.
(3) f 0 (x) 0 for all x I if and only if f is non-increasing on I.
(4) If f 0 (x) < 0 for all x I, then f is strictly decreasing on I.

MSM1AA MATHS CORE A: APPLICATIONS OF DIFFERENTIATION

3. Concave Functions and Points of Inflexion


Definition 3.1. Let f be a real-valued function of a real variable that is differentiable
on I = (x1 , x2 ).
(1) (The graph of) f is concave up on I if f 0 (x) strictly increasing on I.
(2) (The graph of) f is concave down on I if f 0 (x) strictly decreasing on I.
(3) A point c I is a point of inflexion of f if:
(a) either, f is concave up on (x1 , c) and concave down on (c, x2 );
(b) or, f is concave down on (x1 , c) and concave up on (c, x2 ).
From Fact 2.2 we have the following:
Fact 3.2. Let f be a real-valued function of a real variable that is twice differentiable
on I = (x1 , x2 ).
(1) If f 00 (x) > 0 for all x (x1 , x2 ), then f is concave up on (x1 , x2 ).
(2) If f 00 (x) < 0 for all x (x1 , x2 ), then f is concave down on (x1 , x2 ).
(3) If c (x1 , x2 ) is a point of inflexion, then f 00 (c) = 0.
(4) If f 00 (c) = 0 and f 00 changes sign at c, then c is a point of inflexion.
Note that if c is a point if inflexion, then f 0 (c) does not have to be 0. To find
points of inflexion, first identify all points c such that f 00 (c) = 0 and then determine
at which of these points f 00 changes sign.
4. Stationary Points and Extrema
Definition 4.1. Let f be a real-valued function of a real variable.
(1) f has a local maximum at c if there is some open interval (x1 , x2 ) containing
c such that f (x) 6 f (c) for all x (x1 , x2 ).
(2) f has a absolute or global maximum at c if f (x) 6 f (c) for all x dom(f ).
(3) f has a local minimum at c if there is some open interval (x1 , x2 ) containing
c such that f (x) > f (c) for all x (x1 , x2 ).
(4) f has a absolute or global minimum at c if f (x) > f (c) for all x dom(f ).
(5) f has a local (or global) extremum at c if it has either a local (or global)
maximum or minimum at c.
Definition 4.2. Let f be a real-valued function of a real variable. The point c is a
stationary point of f if f 0 (c) = 0.
Stationary points are often called turning or critical points.
Fact 4.3. Let f : [x1 , x2 ] R be a continuous function. Then f has a global
maximum and a global minimum (we say that f attains its bounds). Moreover, each
global extremum of f is either:
(1) an end point of the interval [x1 , x2 ]; or
(2) a point where the derivative of f does not exist; or
(3) a stationary point of f .

MSM1Aa MATHS CORE A: APPLICATIONS OF DIFFERENTIATION

5. Classifying Stationary Points


5.1. The First Derivative Test. This test always works for classifying stationary
points, but can be tricky to implement.
Suppose that f has a stationary point at c.
(1) f has a local maximum at c provided f 0 (c) = 0 and:
f 0 > 0 immediately to the left of c, and
f 0 < 0 immediately to the right of c.
x=
f 0 (x)
slope

c c c+
+ve 0 ve
/ \

(2) f has a local minimum at c provided f 0 (c) = 0 and:


f 0 < 0 immediately to the left of c, and
f 0 > 0 immediately to the right of c.
x=
f 0 (x)
slope

c c c+
ve 0 +ve
\ /

(3) f has a stationary point of inflexion at c provided f 0 (c) = 0 and:


either f 0 < 0 both immediately to the left of c and immediately to the
right of c;
or f 0 > 0 both immediately to the left of c and immediately to the right
of c.
x=
f 0 (x)
slope

c c c+
+ve 0 +ve
/ /

or

x=
f 0 (x)
slope

c c c+
ve 0 ve
\ \

5.2. The Second Derivative Test. This test does not work when f 00 (c) = 0.
Suppose that f has a stationary point at c.
(1) f has a local maximum at c if f 00 (c) < 0;
(2) f has a local minimum at c if f 00 (c) > 0;
(3) The test fails if f 00 (c) = 0.

MSM1AA MATHS CORE A: APPLICATIONS OF DIFFERENTIATION

6. Graph Sketching
(1) Use your knowledge of functions.
(2) Identify the asymptotic behaviour of y = f (x) as x . If y = f (x)
approaches a line y = mx + c, then this line is an oblique asymptote. It is
also possible for y = f (x) to be asymptotic to other functions. Try to identify
whether y = f (x) lies above the asymptote or below it. In particular, if
f (x) c as x , then there is a horizontal asymptote.
(3) Identify the asymptotic behaviour of y = f (x) near points where y tends to
: if f (x) as x c, what happens at c+ and c , i.e. just to the
right of c and just to the left? It is possible for f to tend to + on one side
of c and on the other, or for it to tend to + on both sides of c, or
on both sides. These are the vertical asymptotes of y = f (x).
(4) Plot easy to calculate key points (x- and y-intercepts, stationary points).
(5) Observe whether y is positive or negative in key regions, greater than or
smaller than an asymptote.
(6) Calculate f 0 : find and classify the stationary points (if any) and note where
the gradient is positive or negative.
(7) Calculate f 00 : find any points of inflexion and note where the function is
concave up and concave down.
7. Tangents, Normals and Inverse Functions
Definition 7.1. Let f : R R be a function and (a, b) be a point on the graph of f
(so that b = f (a)). The tangent to the graph of f at (a, b) is the straight line passing
through the point (a, b) which has the same gradient as f at (a, b). The normal to
the graph of f at (a, b) is the straight line passing through (a, b) perpendicular to the
tangent at (a, b).
Fact 7.2. The gradient of f at (a, b) is f 0 (a), hence the gradient of the tangent to
the graph at the point (a, b) is f 0 (a).
The gradient of the normal to the graph at (a, b) is 1/f 0 (a).
yb
The equation of the tangent to the graph of f at (a, b) is given by f 0 (a) =
.
xa
yb
1
=
,
The equation of the normal to the graph of f at (a, b) is given by 0
f (a)
xa
provided f 0 (a) 6= 0. If f 0 (a) = 0, then the normal has equation x = a.
These equations can be rearranged into the standard form y = cx + d.
The Graph of an Inverse Function
Suppose that f : R R is a function with an inverse f 1 . Then the graph of f
is the set of points in R2 of the form (x, y) where y = f (x) and the graph of f 1 is
the set of points in R2 of the form (y, x) where x = f 1 (y) (note that it does not
matter what letter we use to represent the dependent and independent variables).
Now y = f (x) if and only if x = f 1 (y) and (x, y) the reflection of (y, x) in the line
y = x. Hence the graph of f 1 is the reflection of the graph of f in the line y = x.

MSM1Aa MATHS CORE A: APPLICATIONS OF DIFFERENTIATION

8. Examples
Example. Determine limx0 (cos x 1)/x2 .
Solution. As x 0, both cos x 1 0 and x2 0, so by lHopitals Rule
cos x 1
sin x
lim
= lim
.
2
x0
x0
x
2x
Again, as x 0, both sin x 0 and 2x 0, so we can apply lHopitals Rule a
second time to get
cos x 1
sin x
cos x
1
lim
= lim
= lim
= .
2
x0
x0
x0
x
2x
2
2
00
4
Example. Although f (0) = 0, f (x) = x does not have a point of inflexion at 0.
Example. Let f (x) = x3 + 2x2 x 2, find the regions where f is strictly increasing
and strictly decreasing and find the points of inflexion of f .
Solution. f (x) = x3 + 2x2 x 2 = (x 1)(x + 1)(x
+ 2), f 0 (x) = 3x2 + 4x 1 and
0
f 00 (x) = 6x + 4. The roots of 3x2 + 4x
7)/3,
positive,
1 are (2
so f is strictly

and hence f is strictly increasing on , (2 7)/3 and on (2 + 7)/3, .

f 0 is strictly negative, so f is strictly decreasing on (2 7)/3, (2 + 7)/3 .


For the points of inflexion f 00 (x) = 0, when x = 2/3. So x = 2/3 is a possible
point of inflexion. If x is lightly less than 2/3, 6x is slightly less than 4, so
f 00 (x) < 0. If x is slightly greater than 2/3, then 6x is slightly greater than 4, so
that f 00 (x) > 0. Hence f 00 changes sign at 2/3, so this is a point of inflexion.
Example. Determine the nature of the stationary points of f (x) = x4 6x2 + 8x + 1.
df
(x) = 0.
dx
0
3
Since f (x) = 4x 12x + 8, stationary points occur when 0 = x3 3x + 2. But
x3 3x + 2 = (x 1)(x2 + x 2) = (x 1)2 (x + 2), so stationary points occur when
x 1 = 0 or x + 2 = 0, i.e. when x = 1, or 2.
Case 1, x = 2: Now f 00 (x) = 12x2 12 so, when x = 2, f 00 (x) > 0. Therefore,
by the Second Derivative Test, f has a local minimum at x = 2.
Case 2, x = 1: When x = 1, f 00 (x) = 0 so the Second Derivative Test does not
apply.
x
1 1 1+
f0
+ve 0 +ve
slope
/ /
Consider values of x close to 1, so that x = 1+h for some small positive or negative
h. Then f 0 (x) = f 0 (1 + h) = 4(1 + h)3 12(1 + h) + 8 = 12h2 + 4h3 = 4h2 (3 + h). For
small h (positive or negative), (3+h) is positive and 4h2 is always positive, so sign
analysis shows us that immediately to the left of x = 1 (negative h) and immediately
to the right of x = 1 (positive h), f 0 (x) is positive.
Hence we see that there is a point of inflection at x = 1.
Solution. Stationary points when

Chris Good, Nov. 07

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