I think that derivative of an isolated point is not possible. We can have a derivative at a point only if we have a differentiable curve in its left and right neighborhood.
If the terms are arbitrary then the method I suggested is not valid.
In that case you will have to find all the critical points and find the value of function at each critical point and then decide the minimum.
The minimum of function may not be at the smallest critical point.
But it will be...
I still do not get why my method is not feasible.
Because for any number of segments of absolute values, the slope of the function is negative only for the values of x lesser then the smallest critical point. The slope of the function is positive for the other segments(i.e.,segments of values of...
hey adrian
I tried your problem by graphical approach
The last absolute value in the series i.e., |0.5-2x| in the above example will be equal to zero at x=0.25. This is the value of x for which the value of whole function will be minimum.
This is valid for any number of terms. Just find the...