Calculus with Applications (10th Edition)

Published by Pearson
ISBN 10: 0321749006
ISBN 13: 978-0-32174-900-0

Chapter 5 - Graphs and the Derivative - 5.3 Higher Derivatives, Concavity, and the Second Derivative Test - 5.3 Exercises - Page 284: 40

Answer

$$ f(x)=f(x)=-x(x-3)^{2} $$ $f(x)$ concave upward on $$(-\infty, 2 )$$. $f(x)$ concave downward on $$(2, \infty )$$ Inflection point at $$(2, -2)$$

Work Step by Step

$$ f(x)=-x(x-3)^{2} $$ Rewrite the function $f(x)$ as $$ f(x)=-x(x^{2}-6x+9)=-x^{3}+6x^{2}-9x $$ The first derivative is $$ \begin{aligned} f^{\prime}(x) &=-(3)x^{2}+6(2)x-9 \\ &=-3x^{2}+12x-9 , \end{aligned} $$ and the second derivative is $$ \begin{aligned} f^{\prime\prime}(x) &=-3(2)x+12-0 ,\\ &=-6x+12 \end{aligned} $$ A function $f$ is concave upward on an interval if $f^{\prime\prime}(x) \gt 0$ for all $x$ in the interval, so $$ \begin{aligned} f^{\prime\prime}(x) =-6x+12 & \gt 0 \\ -6x & \gt -12\\ x & \lt \frac{ -12}{-6}= 2 \end{aligned} $$ so $f(x)$ is concave upward on $(-\infty, 2 )$. Also function $f$ is concave downward on an interval if $f^{\prime\prime}(x) \lt 0$ for all $x$ in the interval, so $$ \begin{aligned} f^{\prime\prime}(x) =-6x+12 & \lt 0 \\ -6x & \lt -12\\ x & \gt \frac{ -12}{-6}= 2 \end{aligned} $$ so $f(x)$ is concave downward on $(2, \infty )$. Since the sign of $f^{\prime\prime}(x)$ changes from positive to negative at $2 $, the graph changes from concave upward to concave downward at that point, so $(2 , f(2))$ is inflection point. Now ,we find $ f(2)$as follows: $$ \begin{aligned} f(2) &=-(2)((2)-3)^{2}\\ &=-(2)(-1)^{2}\\ &=-2 \end{aligned} $$ Finally, we have inflection point at $(2, f(2))=(2, -2)$.
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