• Best of luck to the class of 2024 for their HSC exams. You got this!
    Let us know your thoughts on the HSC exams here
  • YOU can help the next generation of students in the community!
    Share your trial papers and notes on our Notes & Resources page
MedVision ad

Stationary points and nature of calculus question, please help! (1 Viewer)

Carrotsticks

Retired
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Messages
9,494
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
What else could it imply?
I'm guessing you're asking for other examples where the double derivative and first derivative is equal to 0, but not necessarily a HPOI.

The most obvious example is:



We have to consider whether the highest order of the polynomial is odd/even when it comes to analysing HPOI.

For example, the curve...



... has f'(x) and f''(x) = 0 at the origin, but there IS in fact a HPOI there, as opposed to another curve like:



Another example is from a question I posted earlier in the Extension 2 Marathon regarding the curve:



Although as n approaches infinity, the stationary point and point of inflexion converge to the same fixed point, the limiting case is most certainly not a HPOI.
 

Carrotsticks

Retired
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Messages
9,494
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A


One example mainly multiple roots in the form

Where n is an integer greater than or equal to 3. Not necessarily a horizontal point of inflexion will occur when both first and second derivative equals to zero.
A horizontal point of inflexion will occur when n is odd.
 

bleakarcher

Active Member
Joined
Jul 8, 2011
Messages
1,509
Gender
Male
HSC
2013
God, I love this forum. Love ya Spiral, love ya Carrotsticks. got a lot of respect for you guys.
 

Annum

Member
Joined
Dec 10, 2010
Messages
31
Gender
Female
HSC
2012
Is it possible to have three stationary points? Im getting three different stationay points, and honestly havnt come across a question that involves three different stationary points. thanks
 

nightweaver066

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2010
Messages
1,585
Gender
Male
HSC
2012
Is it possible to have three stationary points? Im getting three different stationay points, and honestly havnt come across a question that involves three different stationary points. thanks
Yes.
 

Carrotsticks

Retired
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Messages
9,494
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
Is it possible to have three stationary points? Im getting three different stationay points, and honestly havnt come across a question that involves three different stationary points. thanks
A polynomial of nth degree can have at most n-1 stationary points.
 

Annum

Member
Joined
Dec 10, 2010
Messages
31
Gender
Female
HSC
2012
The area of a rectangle is 70m^2. Show that the perimeter of the rectangle is given by p=2x+140/x

Can anyone help me with this please?
 

Annum

Member
Joined
Dec 10, 2010
Messages
31
Gender
Female
HSC
2012
Thankyou, i feel bad that your always helping me with my math questions
 

Annum

Member
Joined
Dec 10, 2010
Messages
31
Gender
Female
HSC
2012
when finding stationary points and testing its nature, is it possible to get both as 'horizontal point of inflextion' for both points because thats what im getting for this one
y= x^3/3 - x^2 - 8x + 11
Its telling me to use the first derivative to determine its nature
for the stationary points im getting (4, -15 2/3) and (-2, 20 1/3)

I really hope you can help me thanks.
 

Carrotsticks

Retired
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Messages
9,494
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
when finding stationary points and testing its nature, is it possible to get both as 'horizontal point of inflextion' for both points because thats what im getting for this one
y= x^3/3 - x^2 - 8x + 11
Its telling me to use the first derivative to determine its nature
for the stationary points im getting (4, -15 2/3) and (-2, 20 1/3)

I really hope you can help me thanks.
Think about it this way... the cubic you have there has degree 3. Thus, it has '2 tokens'.

One stationary point costs 1 token.

One horizontal point of inflexion costs 2 tokens.

Hence the cubic can only have at most 1 horizontal point of inflexion, or two stationary points.
 

Timske

Sequential
Joined
Nov 23, 2011
Messages
794
Gender
Male
HSC
2012
Uni Grad
2016
when finding stationary points and testing its nature, is it possible to get both as 'horizontal point of inflextion' for both points because thats what im getting for this one
y= x^3/3 - x^2 - 8x + 11
Its telling me to use the first derivative to determine its nature
for the stationary points im getting (4, -15 2/3) and (-2, 20 1/3)

I really hope you can help me thanks.
you shouldnt get 2 Horizontal point of inflexion

MIN @ (4, -15 2/3) and MAX @ (-2, 20 1/3)

u can sub in x values in f'(x) to the left and right of 4 and - 2 to determine if its increasing or decreasing on both sides

Remember f ' (x) < 0 its decreasing and if f ' (x) is > 0 its increasing

f ' (x) = x^2 - 2x - 8
x values to the left and right of 4 are 3 and 5, sub those in f'(x)
youll find its decreasing at 3 and increasing at 5 so therefore its a min
 

Annum

Member
Joined
Dec 10, 2010
Messages
31
Gender
Female
HSC
2012
thankyou i understand it now :)
you shouldnt get 2 Horizontal point of inflexion

MIN @ (4, -15 2/3) and MAX @ (-2, 20 1/3)

u can sub in x values in f'(x) to the left and right of 4 and - 2 to determine if its increasing or decreasing on both sides

Remember f ' (x) < 0 its decreasing and if f ' (x) is > 0 its increasing

f ' (x) = x^2 - 2x - 8
x values to the left and right of 4 are 3 and 5, sub those in f'(x)
youll find its decreasing at 3 and increasing at 5 so therefore its a min
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)

Top