Scribd
Upload
9K views4 pages

Concavity AND Point of Inflection

The document defines concavity and points of inflection for functions. It states that a graph is concave upward if the second derivative is positive, and concave downward if the second derivative is negative. Points of inflection occur when the concavity changes from upward to downward or vice versa, meaning the second derivative is equal to zero. The document provides examples and theorems to help identify intervals of concavity and possible points of inflection by examining the behavior of the second derivative.

Uploaded by

Irene Bal-iyang Dawe
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
9K views4 pages

Concavity AND Point of Inflection

The document defines concavity and points of inflection for functions. It states that a graph is concave upward if the second derivative is positive, and concave downward if the second derivative is negative. Points of inflection occur when the concavity changes from upward to downward or vice versa, meaning the second derivative is equal to zero. The document provides examples and theorems to help identify intervals of concavity and possible points of inflection by examining the behavior of the second derivative.

Uploaded by

Irene Bal-iyang Dawe
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

CONCAVITY

AND
POINT OF INFLECTION

Members:
Dominguez, Eljhay
Lapisac, Edrian
Liwen, Karen Gayle
Og-oget, Hazel Mae
Paca, Charlyn
Sab-it, Jhurielyn
CONCAVITY
Definition of Concavity
Let f be differentiable on an open interval I. The graph of f is concave upward on I if f’ is increasing
on the interval and concave downward on I of f’ is decreasing on the interval.
The following graphical interpretation of concavity is useful.

1. Let f be differentiable at c. If the graph of f is concave upward at (c, f(c)), the graph of f lies above the
tangent line at (c, f(c)) on some open interval containing c. (Figure 1)
2. Let f be differentiable at c. If the graph of f is concave downward at (c, f(c)), the graph of f lies below
the tangent line at (c, f(c)) on some open interval containing c. (Figure 2)

Figure 1 Figure 2
To find the open
intervals on which the graph of a function f is concave upward or downward, you need to find the intervals on
which f’ is increasing or decreasing.

For instance, the graph of


1
f(x) = 3x3 – x

is concave downward on the open interval (-∞, 0) because f’(x) = x2 – 1 is


decreasing there. Similarly, the graph of f is concave upward on the interval (0,
∞) because f’ is increasing on (0,∞).

THEOREM 1.1
Let f be a function whose second derivative exists on an open interval I.
1. If f’’(x) > 0 for all x in I, then the graph of f is concave upward.
2. If f’’(x) < 0 for all x in I, then the graph of f is concave downward

Note:
A third case could be if f’’(x) = 0 for all x in I, then f is linear. Note, however, that concavity is not defined for
a line. In other words, a straight line is either concave upward not concave downward. To apply Theorem 1.1
locate the x-values at which f’’(x)
= 0 or f’’ is undefined. Second,
use these x-values to determine
test intervals. Finally, test the
sign of f’’(x) in each of the test
intervals.

EXAMPLE:
There are no points at which f’’’(x) = 0, but at x = ±2 the function is not continuous, so you test for
concavity in the intervals (-∞, -2), and (2, ∞), as shown in the table. The graph of f is shown in Figure 2.1.

FIGURE 2.1

POINTS OF INFLECTION
Definition of Point of Inflection

Let f be a function that is continuous on an open interval, and let c be a point in the interval. If the graph of f
has a tangent line at this point (c,f(c)), then this point is a point of inflection of the graph of f when the
concavity of f changes from upward to downward (or downward to upward) at the point.
Three types of points of inflection are shown in Figure 3.1. Note that a graph crosses its tangent line at
a point of inflection.

FIGURE 3.1
To locate possible points of inflection, you can determine the values of x for which f’’(x) = 0 or f’’(x) does not
exist.

THEOREM 3.2 POINTS OF INFLECTION


If (c,f(c)) is a point of inflection of the graph of f, then either f’’(c) = 0 or f’’ is undefined at x = c.
EXAMPLE:

You might also like