How do I determine if a stationary point on a curve is the maximum or minimum?
If you are comfortable with differentiation. You can take the second derviatve of the equation of the cruve and plug in the x value of the curve. Based on this answer you can determine if it's a maximum, minimum or stationary. A maximum would have a negative value, a minimum a positive and stationary 0. If however you are not comfortable with this method and cannot memorize the different cases you can always substitute a point slightly before and after the point you're interested in. For example if you're considering x =3. You can subsitute 2.5 and 3.5 into your derivative and based on the signs draw a diagram representing the shape of the curve.
ES
Answered by Eryk S. • Further Mathematics tutor
3050 Views
See similar Further Mathematics GCSE tutorsRelated Further Mathematics GCSE answers
All answers ▸A=(1,a;0,1/2) B=(1,-1;0,2) AB=I, calculate the value of a.
Find the coordinates of the stationary points on the curve y=x^5 -15x^3
The equation of the line L1 is y = 3x – 2 The equation of the line L2 is 3y – 9x + 5 = 0 Show that these two lines are parallel.
Show that (n^2) + (n+1)^2 + (n+2)^2 = 3n^2 + 6n + 5, Hence show that the sum of 3 consecutive square numbers is always 2 away from a multiple of 3.