View Full Version : critical point
cateater2000
Nov13-04, 01:55 PM
let f(x)=sin(1/x)*x^2 for x not 0, and f(0)=0. show that x=0 is a critical point for f which is neither a local minimum, a local maximum, nor an inflection point.
well I tried differentiating this, and got f'=-cos(1/x) +2xsin(1/x). to find a critical point i make f'=0. Not sure how to do this. Do I take the limx->0?
Any hints or tips would be great
arildno
Nov13-04, 02:15 PM
What you've done here, is to find the derivative of f at all points EXCEPT at x=0!
But you are to find f'(0)...
Use the definition of the derivative.
cateater2000
Nov13-04, 05:53 PM
k thanks i'll try that
arildno
Nov14-04, 07:19 AM
If you're a bit unsure what I mean, the definition of f'(0) is:
f'(0)=\lim_{h\to{0}}\frac{f(0+h)-f(0)}{h}
cateater2000
Nov14-04, 07:15 PM
yeh i got that to work, now how do I show that it's not a local min,max or inflection. Would I look at the second derivative? If that's not defined it's not anything?
arildno
Nov15-04, 07:12 AM
yeh i got that to work, now how do I show that it's not a local min,max or inflection. Would I look at the second derivative? If that's not defined it's not anything?
The standard second-derivative fails, since the first derivative is discontinuous at x=0 (the 2.derivative is not defined).
It remains to be shown that f(0) is not a local maximum/minimum.
This should be fairly easy to show..
Use, for example, the following definition of local maximum:
We say that a function f has a local maximum at x_{0}, iff there exists a \delta>0 so that for all x\in{D}(x_{0},\delta),f(x)\leq{f}(x_{0})
I've assumed that the x's in the open \delta-disk are in the domain of f, as is the case in your problem.
Note that this definition makes no assumption of differentiability or continuity of f.
cateater2000
Nov16-04, 08:01 PM
ok i finished that part of the question.( this is a 4 part question)
I can't figure out these 2 parts. Any tips would be fantastic
f(x)=x^2*sin(1/x)
1.let g(x)=2x^2 +f(x) (f from the first question i asked)
Show g has a global minimum at x=0 but g'(x) changes sign infinitely often on both (0,e) and (-e,0) for any e>0.
For this question I can easily show 0 is a critical point. But when I show it's a minimum is what's difficult, when I differentiate twice I cannot see that f''(0)>0
2. Let h(x)=x+2f(x). Show h'(0)>0, but h is not monotone increasing on any interval that includes 0.
I know how to show h'(0)>0 but have no idea how to show it's monotone increasing.
Again any help would be fantastic
thanks in advance
arildno
Nov17-04, 07:40 AM
Show that for 1., g(x)>=x^2 for ALL x.
How can that help you in showing that x=0 must be a global minimum?
vBulletin® v3.8.7, Copyright ©2000-2012, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.