Concavity

Concavity indicates whether the gradient of a curve is increasing, decreasing or sta-

tionary.
Concave up, decreasing Concave up, increasing
Concave down, increasing Concave down, decreasing
Concave up: the gradient of the curve increases as x increases.
Concave down: the gradient of the curve decreases as x increases.
Zero concavity: the gradient of the curve is constant.
The diagram below shows the graph of the cubic function k(x) = x
3
. The rst deriva-
tive of k(x) is a quadratic function, k

(x) = 3x
2
and the second derivative is a linear
function, k

(x) = 6x.
1
2
3
1
2
1 2 1 2
x
y
k
k

1
2
3
1
2
1 2 1 2
x
y
k
k

Notice the following:

k

(x) > 0, the graph is concave up.

k

(x) < 0, the graph is concave down.

k

(x) = 0, change in concavity (point of inection).

Points of inection
This is the point where the concavity of a curve changes, as shown in the diagram
below. If a < 0, then the concavity changes from concave up (purple) to concave
down (grey) and if a > 0, concavity changes from concave down (blue) to concave
up (green). Unlike a turning point, the gradient of the curve on the left-hand side of
238 6.6. Sketching graphs