Solution. Consider the function A = f (x) = πx2 that gives the area of a circle of radius x.

We
note that the actual change in the area of a circle whose radius increases from r to R is given by
πR2 − πr2 = f (R) − f (r) = ΔA ≈ dA = f � (r) · Δr. We note that f � (r) = 2πr and Δr = R − r,
hence the area of the ring is approximately 2πr · (R − r). Using the given information, we see that
the area of Neptune’s outermost ring is approximately 2π(62, 900)(50) ≈ 19,760,000 km2 . �
Recall that the error in a measurement is given by the ratio of the difference between the actual
value and the measured value to the actual value. Using the theory of differentials, it follows that
the relative error or percentage error of a quantity q is given by Δq q
≈ dqq .

Error in Calculated Volume of Cube. Consider a scenario in which the side of a cube is
measured with a maximum percentage error of 2%. Use differentials to estimate the maximum
percentage error in the calculated volume of the cube.

Solution. Let x denote the side length of the cube. We have the volume given by V = f (x) = x3 .
Given that the maximum percentage error is at most 2%, it follows that we | dx
x
| ≤ 2%. Consider-
2 dV 3x2 dx dx
ing the differential of V, we have that dV = 3x dx so that V = x3 = 3 · x . We conclude that
the maximum percentage error in the calculated volume is approximately 3 · (2%) = 6%. �

4 Applications of the Derivative

4.1 Applications of the First Derivative
4.1.1 Determining Intervals of Increasing and Decreasing
Definition. Given a function f (x), we say that f (x) is increasing on the open interval (a, b) if
for all x1 and x2 in (a, b) such that x1 < x2 , we have that f (x1 ) < f (x2 ). Likewise, we say that
f (x) is decreasing on (a, b) if f (x1 ) > f (x2 ). We say that f (x) is increasing (decreasing) at c in
(a, b) if c is in an interval contained in (a, b) on which f (x) is increasing (decreasing).
We can use our knowledge of derivatives to study intervals of increasing and decreasing in a nat-
ural way. We note that the derivative of a function at a point gives its rate of change — i.e., the
slope of the line tangent to f (x) — so we can use the sign of the derivative to determine whether
the function is increasing or decreasing. (Consider this graphically, if you are not convinced.) Ex-
plicitly, if f (x) has a positive derivative at x, then f (x) is increasing at x. On the other hand, if
f (x) has a negative derivative at x, then f (x) is decreasing at x. We summarize this now.

Evaluate the Derivative to Find Intervals of Increasing / Decreasing. Given a differen-

tiable function f (x), we have the following.
(1.) Given that f � (x) > 0 for every value of x in an interval (a, b), f (x) is increasing on (a, b).

(2.) Given that f � (x) < 0 for every value of x in an interval (a, b), f (x) is decreasing on (a, b).

(3.) Given that f � (x) = 0 for every value of x in an interval (a, b), f (x) is constant on (a, b).

Quadratic Increasing / Decreasing. Consider the differentiable function f (x) = x2 . We have

that f � (x) = 2x. We note that we have f � (x) < 0 when x < 0 and f � (x) > 0 when x > 0, from
which we conclude that f (x) is increasing on (0, ∞) and decreasing on (−∞, 0). Observe that at
x = 0, the function is neither increasing nor decreasing. Graphing f (x) corroborates this fact.

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Recall that the Intermediate Value Theorem states that if a function f (x) is continuous on the
interval (a, b), then for every y-value M between f (a) and f (b), there exists an x-value c in (a, b)
such that f (c) = M . Consequently, if f (a) < 0 and f (b) > 0 (or vice-versa), then there exists
an x-value c in (a, b) such that f (c) = 0. By applying the Intermediate Value Theorem to the
derivative f � (x), we can construct a sign table to find intervals on which f (x) is increasing and
decreasing — and more (we will see shortly). We use the following algorithm to this end.
(1.) Find all values of x for which f � (x) = 0 or f � (x) is discontinuous. We note that these values
induce open intervals where f � (x) is continuous and nonzero.
(2.) Choose a test value c in each interval to determine the sign of f � (x).
(a.) Given that f � (c) > 0, f (x) is increasing on the interval containing c.
(b.) Given that f � (c) < 0, f (x) is decreasing on the interval containing c.
Sign Test for a Cubic Function. Consider the cubic function f (x) = x3 − 3x. We have that
f � (x) = 3x2 − 3 = 3(x − 1)(x + 1). We note that f � (x) is continuous everywhere, as it is a
polynomial; however, f � (x) = 0 when x = ±1. These values induce the following table.

interval test point c f � (c) sign of f � (c)

(−∞, −1) −2 9 +

(−1, 1) 0 −3 −

(1, ∞) 2 9 +

We conclude that f (x) is increasing on (−∞, −1) ∪ (1, ∞) and decreasing on (−1, 1).
Sign Test with Discontinuous Derivative. Consider the radical function f (x) = x2/3 . We
3 x . Observe that f (x) �= 0 for any x ∈ R; however, f (x) is not
have that f � (x) = 23 x−1/3 = 3 √
2 � �

defined at x = 0, hence f � (x) is discontinuous at x = 0. These values induce the following table.

interval test point c f � (c) sign of f � (c)

(−∞, 0) −1 − 23 −

2
(0, ∞) 1 3
+

We conclude that f (x) is increasing on (0, ∞) and decreasing on (−∞, 0).

4.1.2 Relative Extrema

Consider our first example f (x) = x2 . Looking at any open interval (a, b) containing x = 0, we see
that f (0) = 0 is the minimum of all y-values in that interval. (Recall that (0, 0) is the vertex of
x2 .) Because f (x) is continuous at x = 0, we see that f (x) attains a relative minimum at x = 0.
Definition. Given a continuous function f (x), we say that f (x) has a relative maximum at a
point (c, f (c)) if there exists an open interval (a, b) containing c such that f (x) ≤ f (c) for all x in
(a, b). On the other hand, we say that f (x) has a relative minimum at a point (d, f (d)) if there
exists an open interval (a, b) containing d such that f (x) ≥ f (d) for all x in (a, b).

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4.1.3 Finding Relative Extrema
Our numbers that we found in the sign test algorithm do more than just give us intervals of in-
creasing and decreasing, as was suggested previously. We give them a special name, therefore.
Definition. Given a differentiable function f (x), a critical number of f (x) is any x-value in the
domain of f (x) such that f � (x) = 0 or f � (x) does not exist.
First Derivative Test. Given a differentiable function f (x), we have the following algorithm for
determining the relative extrema of f (x).
(1.) Determine the critical numbers of f (x).
(2.) Determine the sign of f � (x) to the “left” and “right” of each critical number.

(a.) Given that f � (x) changes sign from + to − as we move across a critical number c from
left to right, f (x) has a relative maximum at x = c.
(b.) Given that f � (x) changes sign from − to + as we move across a critical number c from
left to right, f (x) has a relative minimum at x = c.
(c.) Given that f � (x) does not change sign as we move across a critical number c from left
to right, f (x) does not have a relative extremum at x = c.

First Derivative Test of a Quadratic Function. Find the relative maxima and relative min-
ima of the function f (x) = x2 .
Solution. We have that f � (x) = 2x. Observe that f � (x) is a linear function, hence f � (x) is defined
everywhere. Checking f � (x) = 0, we find that x = 0 is the only critical number. Conducting a
sign test around x = 0, we see that f � (x) < 0 if x < 0 and f � (x) > 0 if x > 0. Considering that
f � (x) changes sign from − to + as we move across the critical number x = 0 from left to right, we
conclude that f (x) has a relative minimum at x = 0. Graphing f (x) corroborates this fact. �
First Derivative Test of a Rational Function. Find the relative maxima and relative min-
ima of the rational function f (x) = x + x1 .
Solution. We have that
1 x2 − 1 (x − 1)(x + 1)
f � (x) = 1 −
2
= 2
= .
x x x2
Observe that f � (x) = 0 for x = ±1 and f � (x) is not defined at x = 0, hence our critical numbers
are x = ±1 and x = 0. These values induce the following table.

interval test point c f � (c) sign of f � (c)

3
(−∞, −1) −2 4
+

(−1, 0) − 12 −3 −

1
(0, 1) 2
−3 −

3
(1, ∞) 2 4
+

We conclude that f (x) has a relative maximum at x = −1 and a relative minimum at x = 1. �

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