Now that we know how to compute the derivatives of many common functions,

we can give a few examples of why the derivative is such a useful tool. In this
chapter, we will look at four different applications of the derivative.

The first application, is to use the derivative to find the velocity and
acceleration of a particle moving in a straight line. When we are given a
function f (t) describing the position of a particle at time t , the velocity of the
particle at time t is the derivative f'(t) and the acceleration is the second
derivate f''(t) .

The second application is the analysis of graphs of functions . We can use the
derivative to find critical points and inflection points on graphs, from which a
reasonably good sketch of a function can be constructed.

The second applications is related to the third, optimization of functions . For

example, one may encounter a function in the business world that gives the
total profit of producing a certain number of goods. It would then be natural to
try to maximize such a function.

The fourth and final application concerns related rates . Suppose water is
flowing into a gigantic ice cream cone at a fixed rate (for some strange
reason). Through a clever application of differentiation, it is possible to
determine how quickly the water level will be rising when it reaches any
particular height in the cone.
Critical Point - A number x in the domain of a function f such thatf'(x) = 0 .

Global Maximum - A value f (x 0) that is greater than or equal to any other

value f (x) that f takes on over its domain.

Global Minimum - A value f (x 0) that is less than or equal to any other

value f (x) that f takes on over its domain.

Inflection Point - A number x in the domain of a function f such thatf(x) = 0 .

Local Maximum - A value f (x 0) that is greater than or equal to any other

value f (x) for x in some interval about x 0 .

Local Minimum - A value f (x 0) that is less than or equal to any other

value f (x) for x in some interval about x 0 .

First Derivative Test - A critical point x 0 of a function f is a local maximum if

the first derivative f' changes sign from positive to negative at x 0 .
Correspondingly, x 0 is a local minimum is f' changes sign from negative to
positive there.

Second Derivative Test - A critical point x 0 of a function f is a local

maximum if the second derivative f''(x 0) is negative. It is a local minimum
if f''(x 0) is positive. (It is also possible that f''(x 0) = 0 , in which case the critical
point is also an inflection point.)

Concave Up - A function f (x) is concave up at x 0 if f''(x 0) > 0 .

Concave Down - A function f (x) is concave down at x 0 if f''(x 0) < 0

Suppose that an object is confined to move in a straight line, and that the
function f (t) represents the position of the object relative to a fixed coordinate
system at a time t . For example, a marble might be released and allowed roll
along a groove between floor boards, f(t) representing its signed distance in
centimeters from the point of release, and t the elapsed time in seconds.

The derivative f'(t) represents the rate of change of the position f (t)at time t ,
which is the instantaneous velocity of the object. This is also a signed quantity,
with the sign indicating the direction of motion -- toward or away from the
chosen origin. The absolute value of the velocity, | f'(t)| , is the speed of the
object, which reflects how quickly it is moving regardless of direction.

The second derivative of the position function, f''(t) , represents the rate of
change of velocity, which is acceleration. In our example, if the marble moves
from a flat to sloped region of the floor, it will begin to pick up speed,
and f''(t) will become positive.

In kinematics, one learns that the acceleration of an object is related to the

forces acting on it. Therefore, if one observes the motion of an object (in effect
measuring f (t) ), differentiation allows one to determine what forces were
acting upon it during the observed motion.
Derivatives can be used to gather information about the graph of a function.
Since the derivative represents the rate of change of a function, to determine
when a function is increasing, we simply check where its derivative is positive.
Similarly, to find when a function is decreasing, we check where its derivative
is negative.

The points where the derivative is equal to 0 are called critical points. At these
points, the function is instantaneously constant and its graph has horizontal
tangent line. For a function representing the motion of an object, these are the
points where the object is momentarily at rest.

The First Derivative Test

A local minimum (resp. local maximum) of a function f is a point (x 0, f(x 0)) on

the graph of f such that f (x 0)f (x) (resp. f (x 0)f (x) ) for allx in some interval
containing x 0 . Such a point is called a global minimum (resp. global
maximum) of a function f if the appropriate inequality holds for all points in the
domain. In particular, any global maximum (minimum) is also a local maximum
(minimum).

It is intuitively clear that the tangent line to the graph of a function at a local
minimum or maximum must be horizontal, so the derivative at the point is 0 ,
and the point is a critical point. Therefore, in order to find the local
minima/maxima of a function, we simply have to find all its critical points and
then check each one to see whether it is a local minimum, a local maximum,
or neither. If the function has a global minimum or maximum, it will be the least
(resp. greatest) of the local minima (resp. maxima), or the value of the function
on an endpoint of its domain (if any such points exist).
 Figure %: Examples of Global and Local Extrema

Clearly, the behavior near a local maximum is that the function increases,
levels off, and begins decreasing. Therefore, a critical point is a local
maximum if the derivative is positive just to the left of it, and negative just to
the right. Similarly, a critical point is a local minimum if the derivative is
negative just to the left and positive to the right. These criteria are collectively
called the first derivative test for maxima and minima.

There may be critical points of a function that are neither local maxima or
minima, where the derivative attains the value zero without crossing from
positive to negative. For instance, the functionf (x) = x 3 has a critical point
at 0 which is of this type. The derivativef'(x) = 3x 2 is zero here, but everywhere
else f' is positive. This function and its derivative are sketched below.

Figure %: Plot of f (x) = x and f'(x) = 3x

3 2

The Second Derivative Test

 Once we have found the critical points, one way to determine if they are local
minima or maxima is to apply the first derivative test. Another way uses the
second derivative of f . Suppose x 0 is a critical point of the function f (x) , that
is, f'(x 0) = 0 . We have the following three cases:

1. f''(x 0) > 0 implies x 0 is a local minimum

2. f''(x 0) < 0 implies x 0 is a local maximum
3. f''(x 0) = 0 is inconclusive
The first two of these options derive from the observation that f''(x ) is the
0

rate of change of f'(x) at x , which will be positive if the derivative crosses

0

zero from negative to positive, and negative is the derivative crosses zero
from positive to negative. This is called the second derivative test for
maxima and minima. The third, inconclusive case is considered below.

The first and second derivative tests employ essentially the same logic,
examining what happens to the derivative f'(x) near a critical point x 0 . The first
derivative test says that maxima and minima correspond to f' crossing zero
from one direction or the other, which is indicated by the sign of f' near x 0 .
The second derivative test is just the observation that the same information is
encoded in the slope of the tangent line to f'(x) at x 0 .

Concavity and Inflection Points

A function f (x) is called concave up at x 0 if f''(x 0) > 0 , and concave down

if f''(x 0) < 0 . Graphically, this represents which way the graph of f is "turning"
near x 0 . A function that is concave up at x 0 lies above its tangent line in a
small interval around x 0 (touching but not crossing at x 0 ). Similarly, a function
that is concave down at x 0 lies below its tangent line near x 0 .

The remaining case is a point x 0 where f''(x 0) = 0 , which is called an inflection

point. At such a point the function f holds closer to its tangent line than
elsewhere, since the second derivative represents the rate at which the
function turns away from the tangent line. Put another way, a function usually
has the same value and derivative as its tangent line at the point of tangency;
at an inflection point, the second derivatives of the function and its tangent line
also agree. Of course, the second derivative of the tangent line function is
always zero, so this statement is just that f''(x 0) = 0 .

Inflection points are the critical points of the first derivative f'(x) . At an
inflection point, a function may change from being concave up to concave
down (or the other way around), or momentarily "straighten out" while having
the same concavity to either side. These three cases correspond, respectively,
to the inflection point x 0 being a local maximum or local minimum of f'(x) , or
neither.

Figure %: Example of Concavity and Inflection Points

Optimization is nothing more than finding the minimum or maximum values of
a function within a specified part of its domain. For instance, a
function f (x) may represent a quantity of practical significance (profit, revenue,
temperature, efficiency) with the variable x representing a quantity that can be
controlled (expenditures, investment, throttle, length of work day). Then an
approximate formula for f (x) , for instance f (x) = x 2 - 3x , might make sense
for values of x that have no real significance (such as negative length), so the
domain of f must be artificially restricted to fit with the practical application.

To find the global maximum or minimum of f , if it exists, one must check

determine the positions of the local maxima and local minima, and compare
these to the values of f at the endpoints of its domain, if there are any.

It may happen that a function, such as f (x) = x 3 with domain [3, 4] , does not
have any critical points, but attains a global maximum at an endpoint -- in this
case f (4) = 64 . It may also happen that a function has critical points but does
not have a global maximum or minimum, for instance f (x) = with
domain (- 1, 1) . The latter phenomenon uses the "openness" of the domain (-
1, 1) in an essential way; the function has no maximum or minimum exactly
because it approaches at the omitted endpoints 1 .

The most convenient setting for optimization problems is then a differentiable

function f whose domain is a closed interval [a, b] . In this case, f has both a
global maximum and a global minimum, each of which is either a critical point
or a boundary point (i.e. (a, f (a))and (b, f (b)) ).