Foundation Mathematics
Topic 4 – Lecture 3: Introduction to Differential
Calculus
Identifying Key Features of Gradients
Maximum and Minimum Points
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Introduction to Differential Calculus 3 Topic 4 - 3.2
Scope and Coverage
This topic will cover:
• Plotting maximum and minimum turning points using
graphical means
• Identification and application of maximum and
minimum points using differentiation.
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Introduction to Differential Calculus 3 Topic 4 - 3.3
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this topic students will be able to:
• Plot maximum and minimum turning points using
graphs
• Identify the maximum and minimum turning points
using differentiation
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Introduction to Differential Calculus 3 Topic 4 - 3.4
Maximum and Minimum Points – Changing the shape
of graphs - 1
When we plot graphs of data it is often possible to identify changes
in the shape of those graphs
y
a
b
As we can see in this diagram the shape of the graph changes at
point a and again at point b
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Introduction to Differential Calculus 3 Topic 4 - 3.5
Maximum and Minimum Points – Changing the shape
of graphs - 2
• The shape of the graph may have changed for a number of reasons
• The change in shape of the graph is as a consequence of what we
call turning points. These turning points are described as
maximum points or minimum points
Positive gradient
Negative gradient
Zero gradient
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Introduction to Differential Calculus 3 Topic 4 - 3.6
Maximum Turning Point
Zero gradient
y
Negative gradient
Positive gradient
x
The shape of the graph shows the turning point at the highest
value on the y axis, so this is a Maximum Turning Point
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Introduction to Differential Calculus 3 Topic 4 - 3.7
Minimum Turning Point
y
Positive gradient
Negative gradient
Zero gradient
x
The shape of the graph shows the turning point occurs at the
lowest value on the y axis therefore is a Minimum Turning Point
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Introduction to Differential Calculus 3 Topic 4 - 3.8
Complex Turning Points
y
A
Q
z B
• B is the minimum turning point as it has a
gradient of 0 and A is the maximum turning point
as it also has a gradient of 0
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Introduction to Differential Calculus 3 Topic 4 - 3.9
Plotting Graphs - 1
• Plot the graph of y = x3 – 5x2 + 2x + 8 for values of x
between -2 and 6. Hence find the maximum and
minimum values of y.
• To plot the graph we draw up a table
X -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
y = x3 – 5x2 + 2x + 8 -24 0 8 6 0 -4 0 18 56
• We can then plot this data as a graph to show the
relationship between x and y
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Introduction to Differential Calculus 3 Topic 4 - 3.10
Plotting Graphs - 2
Plotting the graph gives us the following shape. It can be seen
that neither is A the highest value nor B the lowest value but
they are the turning points in respect of the values of y
0.21
B
3.12
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Introduction to Differential Calculus 3 Topic 4 - 3.11
Applying Differential Calculus - 1
• Consider the relationship between two variables y and x
which can be expressed as y = x2 - 5
• If we wish to identify any turning point in this relationship
we can present it in a graph. To do this we need to plot
values of x against y.
• Setting up a simple table requires us to propose limits for the
values of x that we will use.
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Introduction to Differential Calculus 3 Topic 4 - 3.12
Applying Differential Calculus - 2
• This is presented as –n x n
• Therefore if we set limits of -6 x 6 we can now construct
a table of values for both x and y
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Introduction to Differential Calculus 3 Topic 4 - 3.13
Drawing Gradient Functions
By substituting values of x into the equation for y we get the following
x -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6
y = x2 - 5 31 11 -1 -5 -1 11 31
If we then plot this as a graph we get a shape like this
40 Minimum turning point is at
x = 0, y = -5
30
20
10
-6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6
-10 Gradient = 0
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Introduction to Differential Calculus 3 Topic 4 - 3.14
Alternative Approach
• We can also locate maximum and minimum turning points by
differentiation.
• Consider the previous example in which y x2 5
dy
• If we differentiate we get the gradient function of 2x
dx
dy
• When 0 i.e. 2x = 0 so, x = 0. We have a turning point (x,
dx
y) at (0, - 5)
• This is what we found using the other, graphical, method.
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Introduction to Differential Calculus 3 Topic 4 - 3.15
Alternative Approach - 2
• We take a value which is smaller than the x value (0)
In this case we can take - 0.2
dy
• As the gradient function is 2 x this gives us a value of - 0.4 on the left
hand side. dx
On the right hand side we take + 0.2 which gives us a value of = 0.4
The gradient is therefore negative, reaches zero then becomes positive.
This is the character of a minimum turning point. For a maximum turning
point the gradient is positive, becomes zero and then negative.
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Introduction to Differential Calculus 3 Topic 4 - 3.16
Further Application – Area Part 1
• A farmer has 100m of fencing to enclose a rectangular
field. What is the maximum area that can be enclosed?
• In this problem we need to express the information in the
form of an equation. Therefore let the length of the
rectangle = x and the width = y
• We know that the perimeter (p) of a rectangle is found
from p = 2x + 2y
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Introduction to Differential Calculus 3 Topic 4 - 3.17
Further Application – Area Part 1
Continued
• We also know that the area of a rectangle (a) is a = xy
• As we are maximising area (a) we need to have (a) as a
function of x
• To do this we need to eliminate the other unknown (y) in
order to calculate x
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Introduction to Differential Calculus 3 Topic 4 - 3.18
Further Application – Area Part 2
From the formula for the perimeter p = 2x + 2y we can rearrange to express
y in terms of both p and x, thus
1 1
y ( p 2 x) which when we remove the brackets = p x
2 2
1 1
Therefore as a = xy this can now be written as a x ( p x ) xp x
2
2 2
1 da 1
Differentiating xp x 2
gives us p 2 x . Remember at a turning
2 dx 2
da
point – in this case our maximum point – the gradient function is = 0
dx
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Introduction to Differential Calculus 3 Topic 4 - 3.19
Further Application – Area Part 2 Continued
1
Therefore at a maximum point p 2x 0
2
1 1
Rearranging we get x p therefore x the length of the perimeter
4 4
1
x x 100m So, x = 25 meters
4
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Introduction to Differential Calculus 3 Topic 4 - 3.20
Further Application – Area Part 3
1
Substituting this value of x (25m) into our equation y p wex now get
2
1 1 1
y p p rearranging this equation by subtraction gives y p
2 4 4
Therefore the value of y is also 1 (quarter of the perimeter) and therefore 25
p
metres 4
This shows that the length of the rectangle and width of the rectangle are the
same – that it is a square.
The total area enclosed is therefore 25 metres x 25 metres = 625m 2
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Introduction to Differential Calculus 3 Topic 4 - 3.21
Topic 4 - Introduction to Differential Calculus 3
Any Questions?
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