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Lecture 9 : Sucient Conditions for Local Maximum, Point of Inection
In Lecture 6, we have seen a necessary condition for local maximum and local minimum. In this lecture we will see some sucient conditions. Sucient Conditions for Local Maximum and Local Minimum We will present sucient conditions only for local maximum and the sucient conditions for local minimum are similar. In the following results we assume f : (a, b) R. Theorem 9.1 : Let c (a, b) and f be continuous at c. If for some > 0, f is increasing on (c , c) and decreasing on (c, c + ), then f has a local maximum at c. Proof : Choose any x1 and x such that c < x1 < x < c. Then f (x1 ) f (x) and by the continuity of f at c we have f (x1 ) lim f (x) = f (c).
xc
Similarly, if c < x2 < c + then f (x2 ) limxc+ f (x) = f (c). This proves the result. Corollary 9.1 : Let c (a, b) and f be continuous at c. If f (x) 0 for all x (c , c) and f (x) 0 for all x (c, c + ) then f has a local maximum at c. Proof : The proof is immediate from the previous result. Corollary 9.2 : Let c (a, b). If f (c) = 0 and f (c) < 0 then f has a local maximum at c. Proof (*): Since f (c) exists, f (x) exists in a neighborhood of c. As f (c) < 0, we have f (c) = lim f (x) f (c) f (x) = lim < 0. xc xc x c xc
Therefore there exists a > 0 such that f (x) < 0 for all x (c , c) (c, c + ). xc This implies that f (x) > 0 for all x (c , c) and f (x) < 0 for all x (c, c + ). Now apply the previous corollary. Remark : The converses of the previous results are not true, i.e., (i) If f is continuous at c and f has a local maximum at c, then f need not be increasing on (c, c) or decreasing on (c, c + ) for any > 0. (Take the example : f (x) = (xsin(1/x))2 if x = 0, f (0) = 0 and c = 0.) (ii) If f has a maximum at c and f is twice dierentiable at c, then f (c) need not be less than 0. (Consider the example f (x) = x4 and c = 0). So, the conditions assumed in the previous results are sucient but not necessary.
(4x 1 1 Example : Let f (x) = x4 2x2 +7 = (x2 1)2 +6 , x R. Then f (x) = (x4 2x4x)2 = 4x(x1)(x+1) 2 +7) (x4 2x2 +7)2 and f (x) = 0 for x = 1, 0, 1. By Corollary 9.1 and the corresponding result for local minimum,
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2 f has a local minimum at x = 0 and local maxima at x = 1 and x = 1. In this example, it would be complicated to compute the second derivative and apply the second derivative test (Corollary 9.2). Convexity, Concavity and Point of Inection Denition : Let f : (a, b) R be dierentiable. We say that f is convex (resp., concave) on (a, b) if f is strictly increasing (resp., strictly decreasing) on (a, b). It is clear that if f is twice dierentiable on (a, b) and f (x) > 0 for all x (a, b) then f is convex. A similar result also holds for concavity. Examples : The function f (x) = x2 on any open interval (in fact on all of R) and the function f (x) = sinx on (, 2) are convex functions. The function f (x) = x2 on any open interval and the function f (x) = sinx on (0, ) are concave functions. Denition : Let f : (a, b) R be continuous at a point c (a, b). The point c is said to be a point of inection if there exists a > 0 such that either f is convex on (c , c) and f is concave on (c, c + ) or f is concave on (c , c) and f is convex on (c, c + ). It is clear that if f (x) > 0 x (c , c) and f (x) < 0 x (c, c + ) for some or f (x) < 0 x (c , c) and f (x) > 0 x (c, c + ) then c is a point of inection. Necessary Condition for Point of Inection Theorem 9.2: Let c (a, b) and f (c) exist. If f has a point of inection at c then f (c) = 0. Proof (*): Assume that f is strictly increasing on (c , c) and is strictly decreasing on (c, c + ) for some > 0. Since f (c) exists, f (c) = lim Similarly f (c) = limxc+
f (x)f (c) xc
xc
f (x) f (c) 0. xc
0. Therefore f (0) = 0.
Remark : It is possible that f (c) = 0 at a point but c is not a point of inection. For example, f (x) = x4 and c = 0. It is also possible that f (c) may not exist but c could be a point of inection. For example f (x) = x1/3 and c = 0. Sucient Condition for Point of Inection Theorem 9.3: Let c (a, b). If f (c) = 0 and f (c) = 0 then c is a point of inection. Proof(*): The proof is similar to the proof of Corollary 9.2 and it is left as an exercise. Remark : It is possible that c is a point of inection of f and f (c) = 0. For example, consider f (x) = x5 and c = 0.
3 Example : Let f (x) = x 4 = x + 1 x1 . Since f (x) > 0 x = 1, the function is increasing on x1 (, 1) (1, ) and there is no local maximum and no local minimum. Since f (x) > 0 x < 1 the function is convex on (, 1) and since f (x) < 0 x > 1 the function is concave on (1, ). There is no point of inection as f (x) = 0 for all x = 1 and f is not dened at x = 1.
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