MTH 252

Section 4.3
Exercise 28
Justin Drawbert
June 30, 2010

In James Stewart’s Calculus: Concepts and Contexts, 4th Edition, Section 4.3, Excercise 28, we
are given the function √
B(x) = 3x2/3 − x = 3 x2 − x
3

In order to find the intervals on which B(x) is increasing or decreasing we will first find B 0 (x)
which we will then use to find critical values (which we interchangeably refer to as critical numbers)
of B. Critical values being numbers for x such that B 0 (x) = 0 or is undefined. We will then use
these critical values to apply the First Derivative Test.
d d d 6 2
B 0 (x) = (3x2/3 − x) = (3x2/3 ) − (x) = 1/3 − 1 = 1/3 − 1
dx dx dx 3x x
We can see right off the bat that 0 is a critical number, since B 0 (x) is undefined at x = 0. To check
for additional critical values we now set B 0 (x) equal to 0 and then solve for x.

2 2  3
B 0 (x) = −1=0 ⇒ = 1 ⇒ 2 = x1/3 ⇒ 23 = x1/3 ⇒ 8=x
x1/3 x1/3
So our critical values are x = 0 and x = 8. We then make a few quick calculations which we will
then use to help make a table in order to help us visualize the First Derivative Test. Looking back
to B(x) we see that we do not need to test for x < 0, since x is raised to the even power of 2 before
it’s cube root is taken, thus B(x) will always be positive.

B 0 (7) = 3(7)2/3 − 7 ≈ 0.0455 and B 0 (9) = 3(9)2/3 − 9 ≈ −0.3852

So. . .
Interval x1/3 − 1 B 0 (x) B(x)
0<x<8 >0 + increasing
x>8 <0 − decreasing

We can see that B 0 (x) changes from positive to negative at x = 8. Thus, √

by the First Derivative
Test, B(x) has a local maximum at x = 8. Since B(8) = 3(8)2/3 − 8 = 3 3 64 − 8 = 12 − 8 = 4,
B(x) has a local maximum at the point (8, 4).

We then find B 00 (x) so that we can then use the Second Derivative Test along with the Concavity
Test to find intervals of B(x)’s concavity as well as it’s inflection points.
 
00 d 2 d  −1/3  2 2 2
B (x) = − 1 = 2x − 1 = − x−4/3 = − 4/3 = − √
dx x1/3 dx 3 3x 3
3 x4
So we see that B 00 (x) is always negative and is undefined at x = 0. Thus B(x) is concave down
over it’s domain. Because B(x) never changes concavity there are no inflection points.

1
We then use the information we’ve gathered to graph B(x)

4.5
B(x)
4.25 Local Max.
(8,4)
4
3.75
3.5
3.25
3
2.75
2.5
2.25
2
y

1.75
1.5
1.25
1
0.75
0.5
0.25
0
-0.25
-0.5
-2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30
x