Applications of Differentiation

July 5, 2021

Contents
1 Extrema of a Function 1
1.1 Maximum and Minimum Values of a Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Rolle’s Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3 Rate of Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

2 Increasing and Decreasing Functions 5

2.0.1 Geometrical Implication of Zero Derivative . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

3 Concavity 7

4 First Derivative Test 10

4.0.1 I—D Test (Increasing/Decreasing Test) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4.0.2 Concavity Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

5 Second Derivative Test 13

6 Horizontal and Vertical Asymptotes 15

1 Extrema of a Function

1.1 Maximum and Minimum Values of a Function

Some real life problems can be solved using differential calculus. These include

• Finding the shape of a can that minimize manufacturing costs.

• Obtaining the maximum acceleration of a space shuttle.

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 • Determining what angle blood vessels should branch, to minimize energy expended
by the heart pumping blood.

These type of problems can be reduced to obtaining maximum and minimum values of a
function.

Definition 1. A function f has an absolute maximum (or global maximum) at c,

if f (c) > f (x), ∀x in D, where D is the domain of f. The number f (c) is called the max-
imum value of f on D. Similarly, f has an absolute minimum at c if f (c) ≤ f (x) ∀x
in D and the number f (c) is called the minimum value of f on D. The maximum and
minimum values of f are the extreme values of f.

Definition 2. A function f has a local maximum ( or relative maximum) at c, if

f (c) > f (x) when x is near c. i.e f (c) > f (x)∀x in some open interval containing c say
(c − δ, c + δ), δ > 0. Similarly, f has a local minimum at c, if f (c) ≤ f (x) when x is
near c.
Illustration
y
(d, f (d))

y = f (x)

(a, f (a))

x
a b c d e

Figure 1: Show the graph of a function

Figure 1 above shows the graph of a function. Going by the definitions above, the function
has absolute maximum at d and absoute minimum at a. (d, f (d)) is the highest point
on the graph and (a, f (a)) is the lowest point.

However, if we consider only values of x near b (for example if we talk about the interval
(a, c)), the f (b) is the largest of the values f (x) and is called a local maximum value of
f. Similarly, f (c) is the local minimum value of f, because f (c) ≤ f (x) when we take the
interval (b, d) for instance.

Example 1. For f (x) = x2 ,

f (c) > f (0) because x2 > 0 ∀x.

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Therefore f (0) = 0 is the absolute and local minimum value of f. f has absolute minimum
at 0. See Figure 2. The lowest point on the parabola y = x2 is the origin. y = x2 has no
maximum value. The parabola has no highest point.
y
y = x2

Figure 2: Graph of y = x2

Example 2. For f (x) = 3x4 − 16x3 + 18x2 , −1 6 x 6 4, determine the maximum and
minimum values.

From Figure 3, f (1) = 5 is a local maximum. f (−1) = 37 is the absolute maximum. The
absolute maximum is not a local maximum because it appears at an endpoint. f (0) = 0
is a local minimum and f (3) = −27 is a local minimum and an absolute minimum.
At x = 4, there is neither a local (it is at extreme) nor an absolute maximum.
y
(−1, 37)

(1, 5)

x
−1 1 2 3 4 5

(3, −27)

Figure 3: Graph of y = 3x4 − 16x3 + 18x2

Theorem 1 (Extreme Value Theorem). The Extreme Value Theorem, EVT, states that
if a real-valued function f is continuous on the closed interval [a, b], then f has both a
maximum and a minimum value on [a, b].

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Definition 3 (Critical Number). A critical number of a function f is a number c in the
domain of f such that either f 0 (c) = 0 or f 0 (c) does not exist.

1.2 Rolle’s Theorem

Rolle’s Theorem is a special case of Mean Value Theorem (MVT)

Theorem 2 (Mean Value Theorem (MVT)(also called Theorem of the Mean)). If f is

differentiable on the open interval (a, b) and continuous on the closed interval [a, b] then
there is a point m ∈ (a, b) such that f (b)−f
b−a
(a)
= f 0 (m)

Corollary 1 (Rolle’s Theorem). Suppose that the function g is continuous on a closed,

finite interval [a, b] and that it is differentiable on the open interval (a, b). If f (a) = f (b)
then there exists a point m in the open interval (a, b) such that f 0 (m) = 0.

Example 3. Let f (x) = x2 − x. Since f is a polynomial, f is continuous on [0, 1]. f is

differentiable hence
f 0 (x) = 2x − 1, , f (0) = 0, f (1) = 0.

f has same value at the start point and end point of the interval. Thus, all the conditions
on Rolle’s theorem are met. There exists c such that f 0 (c) = 0. There exists a c on (0, 1)
with f 0 (c) = 0 and c can be obtained from equating f 0 (c) to zero.

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2x − 1 = 0 =⇒ x =
2

Cross-check if f 0 ( 12 ) = 0

Example 4. Let f (x) = x12 . Determine if Rolle’s theorem guarantees the existence of
some c in (−1, 1) with f 0 (c) = 0. If not, explain why?

Solution

Since f is not differentiable on [−1, 1] (f is discontinuous at x = 0), we cannot use Rolle’s

Theorem here, since the conditions are not met.

1.3 Rate of Change

Let y be a given function of x i.e y = f (x). Let y1 and y2 correspond to the value x1 and
−y1
x2 of x. Then the ratio xy22 −x1
is called the average rate of change of y with respect to x
in the interval x2 − x1 . When x2 − x1 is very small ≈ δx, then y2 − y1 ≈ δy, so that the

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 δy dy
average rate of change is δx . As δx −→ 0 , we have that the ratio tends to dx
; this gives
the rate of change of y with respect to x at the point x1

Example 5. A sphere ballon is inflated in such a way that its radius increases at the
rate 1cm/s. How fast is its volume changing when its radius is 12cm?

Solution

Note that:

• we need change of volume over time.

• And the change involves change in radius.

Let r and v denote the radius and the volume respectively of the sphere at time t. Then

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V = πr3 .
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Differentiating, we have:
dv dv dr dr
=: = 4πr2
dt dr dt dt
dr
but dt
= 1, r = 12cm. Therefore

dv dr
= 4πr2 = 4π · 122 · 1 = 576π
dt dt

2 Increasing and Decreasing Functions

A function, f, is called increasing on the interval [a, b] if f (x1 ) < f (x2 ) ∀x1 < x2 in
the interval. Similarly, a function is called decreasing on the interval [a, b] if f (x1 ) >
f (x2 ) ∀x1 < x2 in the interval.

y y
y = f (x)

y = f (x)
x x

Increasing function Decreasing function

Figure 4: Shows Increasing and Decreasing functions

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Informally, we say that f is increasing if the graph of f rises to the right
and decreasing if the graph of f falls to the right.

Definition 4. A function f is increasing in the interval I, if for each pair of points a and
b in I, such that a < b, we have f (a) < f (b). Similarly, f is decreasing in the interval I,
if for each pair of points a and b in I, such that a < b, we have f (a) > f (b)

Theorem 3. Suppose f is continuous in an interval I. If f 0 (x) > 0 at every interior

point (i.e not an end point) of I,then f is increasing in I. If f 0 (x) < 0 at every interior
point of I,then f is decreasing in I.

Proof. Proof is left to the student.

Example 6. Show that if f (x) = 3x3 + 2x − 7, then f is increasing in any interval.

Solution

f 0 (x) = 9x2 + 2. 9x2 + 2 > 0 for any real number. It follows from Theorem 3 above that
f i s an increasing function in any interval.

Example 7. Determine the intervals in which f is decreasing if f (x) = 2x3 +3x2 −12x+5

Solution

f 0 (x) = 6x2 + 6x − 12 = 6(x − 1)(x + 2)

From Theorem 3, f is decreasing in interval whose interior point satisfy the inequality
6(x − 1)(x + 2) < 0. The product (x − 1)(x + 2), is negative only if the factor x − 1 and
x + 2 have opposite signs.

We are looking for an interval where x − 1 is positive and x + 2 is negative or an interval

in which x − 1 is negative and x + 2 is positive. The first option is remote: this is because
if x − 1 is positive (x − 1 > 0) and x + 2 is negative (x + 2 < 0) then we will have x which
is greater than 1 (x > 1) and x less than −2. This is impossible.

We consider the second option: we can find an interval in which x − 1 < 0 and x + 2 > 0
i.e x < 1 and x > −2. This holds when x is a number in the interval (−2, 1). Therefore
f is decreasing in any interval whose interior points belong to the interval (−2, 1).

Quick Practice 1. Find the interval for which the function f (x) = 3x4 − 4x3 − 12x2 + 5
is increasing and where it is decreasing.

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2.0.1 Geometrical Implication of Zero Derivative

If f 0 (c) = 0, the tangent line at (c, f (c)) is horizontal.

3 Concavity

Consider the two functions sketched in the diagrams below. The arc in Figure 5(b) has

y y y = f (x)

P1
y = f (x)
x
0 3
x
(a) Concave down (b) Concave up

Figure 5: Show Concave down and Concave up

the property that: if we draw the tangent line at any point of the arc, then the entire arc
( with the exception of the point of tangency) lies above the tangent line. Such an arc is
said to be concave up.

However, if an arc lies below every tangent line, then we say that the arc is concave
down. For example the part of the curve in Figure 5(a) for which 0 < x < 3, is concave
down.

Theorem 4. If f 00 (x) > 0 at every interior point x of an interval I, then the graph of f
is concave up in I. If f 00 (x) < 0 at every interior point x of an interval I, then the graph
of f is concave down in I.

Proof. We write the proof for the case f 00 (x) > 0. The case f 00 (x) < 0 is similar. See
Figure 6 below. We wish to show that if we draw the tangent line at any point (a, f (a))
then the curve lies above this line. In other words, if the line x = b, (where b is a point
of I different from a) intersects our tangent line at the point (b, c) we want to show that
c < f (b)) i.e

f (b) − c > 0. (1)

The slope of the line that contains the points (a, f (a)) and (b, c) is

c − f (a)
.
b−a

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 y
y = f (x)

(b, f (b))

(b, c)

(a, f (a))
x
a b

Figure 6: Graph of a function

Recall that the equation of a straight line passing through the point (x1 , y1 ) with gradient
m is given by the point-slope (gradient) form as

y − y1 = m(x − x1 ).

Also, recall that in general the equation of the tangent to the curve f at the point (a, f (a))
is given as
y − f (a) = f 0 (a)(x − a)b.

Thus
y − y1 y − f (a)
=m: = f 0 (a).
x − x1 x−a
Since this line is a tangent line, this number must be equal f 0 (a). Therefore

c − f (a) = f 0 (a)(b − a) (2)

According to the mean value theorem(recall theorem of the mean), there is a point m
between a and b such that
f (b) − f (a)
= f 0 (m)
b−a
that is
f (b) − f (a) = f 0 (m)(b − a) (3)

If we subtract the sides of equation (2) from the corresponding side of equation (3) we
have
f (b) − c = [f 0 (m) − f 0 (a)](b − a). (4)

Now we apply the theorem of the mean to the function f 0 to see that there is a number

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n between a and m such that

f 0 (m) − f 0 (a)
= f 00 (n). (5)
m−a

Substituting this result into (4) we will obtain the equation

f (b) − c = f 00 (n)(m − a)(b − a) (6)

Since n ia an interior point of I, the hypothesis of this theorem states that f 00 (n) is
positive. Again, since m is between a and b, the product (m − a)(b − a) is positive.
Therefore, the r.h.s of (6) is positive. This implies f (b) − c > 0. This verifies (1) Hence,
we have completed the proof.

Results concerning the increasing and decreasing nature of a function and concavity of
its graph are summarized below.

i. f 0 (x) > 0 f is increasing

ii. f 0 (x) < 0 f is decreasing

iii. f 00 (x) > 0 graph of f is concave up

iv. f 00 (x) < 0 graph of f is concave down

i and ii are called increasing-decreasing (I—D) tests while iii and iv are concavity tests

Definition 5 (Inflexion Point). A point c, f (c) is called an inflexion point if the concavity
of a graph changes as x moves from just below c to just above c. i.e. A point p on a curve is
called an inflexion point if the curve changes from concave upward to concave downward
or from concave downward to concave upward. Inflexion can occur when f 00 (c) = 0 or
f 00 (c) is undefined. However, f 00 (c) = 0 does not necessarily mean that inflexion occurs
at c

Example 8. Determine whether or not the function f (x) = x4 has a point of inflexion.

Solution

The graph of f is below.

f (x) = x4 ⇒ f 0 (x) = 4x3 ⇒ f 0 (x) = 0

Also,

f 00 (x) = 12x2 ⇒ f 00 (0) = 0

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 y

y = x4

Figure 7: Graph of y = x4

But there is no inflexion point, 0 is not a point of inflexion.

Theorem 5 (Fermat’s Theorem). If f has a local maximum or minimum at c, and if
f 0 (c) exists then f 0 (c) = 0.

Recall definition of critical number/point: A critical number of a function is a number c

in the domain of f such that either f 0 (c) = 0 or f 0 (c) does not exist.
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Example 9. Find the critical numbers of f (x) = x 5 (4 − x).

Solution

3 2 3
f 0 (x) = x− 5 (4 − x) − x− 5
5
3(4 − x) − 5x
= 2
5x 5
12 − 8x
= 2
5x 5

f 0 (x) = 0 if 12 − 8x = 0 i.e x = 23 . When x = 0, f 0 (x) does not exist (is undefined) hence
the critical numbers are 23 and 0.

4 First Derivative Test

Suppose c is a critical number of a continuous function f.

(a) If f 0 changes from positive to negative at c then f has a local maximum at c.

(b) If f 0 changes from negative to positive at c then f has a local minimum at c.

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 (c) If f 0 does not change sign at c (if f 0 is positive on both sides of c or negative on
both sides) then f has no local maximum or local minimum at c.

The first derivative test can be visualized in Figure 8 below.

y y

f 0 (x) > 0 f 0 (x) < 0 f 0 (x) < 0 f 0 (x) > 0

x x
c c
(a) Local Maximum at c (b) Local Minimum at c

f 0 (x) > 0 f 0 (x) < 0

f 0 (x) > 0 f 0 (x) < 0

x x
c c

(c) No Local Maximum or Minimum at c (d) No Local Maximum or Minimum at c

Figure 8: Shows Local Minimum and Local Maximum

Example 10. Find the local maximum and minimum values of the function f (x) =
3x4 − 4x3 − 12x2 + 5

Solution

For the given function, we have that f 0 (x) = 12x3 − 12x2 − 24x = 12x(x − 2)(x + 1).
We need to know where f 0 (x) is changing sign from positive or from negative to positive
or does not change sign. We divide the real line into interval whose end points are the
critical numbers −1, 0 and 2. We arrange this on a chart (recall that the critical number
f 0 (c) = 0 or f 0 (c) does not exist).

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 Interval 12x (x − 2) (x + 1) f 0 (x) decreasing or increasing
x < −1 − − − − Decreasing on (−∞, −1) f 0 (x) < 0
−1 < x < 0 − − + + increasing on (−1, 0) f 0 (x) > 0
0<x<2 + − + − Decreasing on (0, 2) f 0 (x) < 0
x>2 + + + + increasing on (2, ∞) f 0 (x) > 0
From the chat on the table above, we see that f 0 (x) changes from negative to positive at
−1. Therefore f (−1) ia a local minimum value by first derivative. Also, since f 0 changes
from negative to positive at 2, f (2) = −27 is another local minimum value.

At 0, f 0 changes sign from positive to negative. Therefore f (0) = 5 is a local maximum

value by the first derivative test. We write the increasing or decreasing test and concavity
test very sharply as follows:

4.0.1 I—D Test (Increasing/Decreasing Test)

(a) If f 0 (x) > 0 on an interval, then f is increasing on that interval.

(b) If f 0 (x) < 0 on an interval, then f is decreasing on that interval.

4.0.2 Concavity Test

(a) If f 00 (x) > 0 ∀x in I, then the graph of f is concave up on I.

(b) If f 00 (x) < 0 ∀x in I, then the graph of f is concave down on I.

We take an example that considers the use of I—D test, first derivative test, and point
of inflexion.

Example 11. Sketch a possible graph of a function f that satisfies the following condi-
tions:

(i) f (0) = 0, f (2) = 3, f (4) = 6, f 0 (0) = f 0 (4) = 0.

(ii) f 0 (x) > 0 for 0 < x < 4; f 0 (x) < 0 for x < 0 and for x > 4.

(iii) f 00 (x) > 0 for x < 2, f 00 (x) < 0 for x > 2

Recall that

1. If f 0 (c) = 0, then the tangent of the graph at (c, f (c)) is horizontal.

2. If f 0 (x) = 0 ∀x in the interval (a, b), then f is constant on (a, b).

Solution

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Condition (i) implies that the graph has horizontal tangents at the points (0, 0) and (4, 6).
(ii) tells us that f is increasing on the open interval (0, 4) and decreasing on the intervals
(−∞, 0) and (4, ∞).

This means f was decreasing up to just before zero and begins to increase at zero. i.e
f 0 (x) changeed from negative to positive. Therefore, f (0) = 0 is a local minimum by the
first derivative test.

The function is increasing between 0 and 4, i.e up to just before 4, it decreases at just
after 4, there is a sign change for f 0 from positive to negative at 4, therefore by first
derivative test f (4) = 4 is the local maximum.

(iii) informs us that the graph is concave up on −∞, 2 and concave down on (2, ∞). Since
the curve changes from concave up to concave down at 2, the point (2, 3) is the inflexion
point. Using ths information, the graph is sketched below. See Figure 9.

y (4, 6)
6

3 (2, 3)

1
x
−1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6

3 3
Figure 9: Graph of y = − 16 x + 98 x2

5 Second Derivative Test

Suppose f 00 is continuous near c.

a. If f 0 (c) = 0 and f 00 (c) > 0, then f is a local minimum at c.

b. If f 0 (c) = 0 and f 00 (c) < 0, then f is a local maximum at c.

Example 12. Sketch the curve y = x4 − 4x3 using information about concavity, maxi-
mum, minimum and point of inflexion of the graph.

Solution

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f (x) = x4 − 4x3
f 0 (x) = 4x3 − 12x2 = 4x2 (x − 3)
f 00 (x) = 12x2 − 24x = 12x(x − 2)

Critical number

For critical numbers f 0 (c) = 0. We equate f 0 to zero. Either 4x3 = 0 or x − 3 = 0

=⇒ x = 0 or x = 3. Hence 0 and 3 are critical numbers.

For maximum or minimum values

We use the second derivative test: by evaluating f 00 at these critical points.

f 00 (0) = 0, f 00 (3) = 36 > 0

Therefore, by the second derivative test, the point (3, −27) is a local minimum (f (3) =
−27.) The second derivative test gives no information about the critical number zero.
We try using the first derivative test for information about the point zero.

We consider f 0 just before zero and after zero for possible sign change. We consider x < 0
and 0 < x < 3 : For x < 0, f 0 < 0. For 0 < x < 3; f 0 < 0. Thus at 0 there is no change
of sign from positive to negative or from negative to positive. By the first derivative test,
there is no local maximum or minimum at 0.

Concavity

When f 00 (x) = 0; x = 0 or 2. We divide the real number line into intervals with 0 and 2
as endpoints and draw up the chart

Interval f 00 (x) concavity

(−∞, 0) + concave up
(0, 2) − concave down
(2, ∞) + concave up
(0, 0) is an inflexion point, the graph changes from concave up to concave down. Also,
(2, −16) is an inflexion point, the graph changes from concave down to concave up. We use
this information about minimum and maximum points, concavity and point of inflexion
to sketch this curve:

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 y

Points of inflexion

x
−1 (0, 0) 1 2 3 4 5

(2, −16)

−27
(3, −27)

Figure 10: Sketch of y = x4 − 4x3

6 Horizontal and Vertical Asymptotes

Sometimes when x approaches a certain number, y may become arbitrarily large. We

may also let x become very large and observe what happen to y. This end-behavior is
also useful when sketching curves.

Definition 6. Let f be a function defined on some interval (a, ∞) then limx→∞ f (x) = L
implies that the values of f (x) can be made arbitrarily close to L by taking x sufficiently
large.

Definition 7. Let f be a function defined on some interval (−∞, a) then limx→∞ f (x) =
L means that the values of f (x) can be made arbitrarily close to L by taking x sufficiently
large, negatively f (x) never really gets to L but approaches L, just as x never really gets
to infinity but is very large and also approaches infinity.

Definition 8. The line y = L is called a horizontal asymptote of the curve y = f (x) if

either limx→∞ f (x) = L or limx−→−∞ f (x) = L

Example 13. Consider the function

x2 − 1
f (x) = .
x2 + 1

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The table below give values of f (x) (six decimal places)

X 0 ±1 ±2 ±3 ±4 ±5
f (x) −1 0 0.60000 0.80000 0.882353 0.923077

X ±10 ±50 ±100 ±1000 ±10000

f (x) 0.980198 0.999200 0.999800 0.999998 1.000000
The graph of f is as shown in Figure 11 below. As x gets larger and larger, both in the

y=1
1

x
−5 −4 −3 −2 −1 0 1 2 3 4 5

x2 −1
−1 y= x2 +1

x2 −1
Figure 11: Graph of y = x2 +1

positive and in the negative directions, f (x) gets closer and closer to 1. We express this
as:
lim f (x) = 1
x−→∞

i.e
x2 − 1
lim =1
x−→∞ x2 + 1

Also
x2 − 1
lim =1
x−→−∞ x2 + 1

x2 −1
We say that the function f (x) = x2 +1
has a horizontal asymptote at 1.

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