Thomas' Calculus 13th Edition

Published by Pearson
ISBN 10: 0-32187-896-5
ISBN 13: 978-0-32187-896-0

Chapter 4: Applications of Derivatives - Section 4.4 - Concavity and Curve Sketching - Exercises 4.4 - Page 213: 36

Answer

$y(0)=0$ is a local maximum and $y(2)=-3\sqrt[3] 4$ is a local minimum; there are no absolute extrema. $x=-1$ is an inflection point. See graph.

Work Step by Step

Step 1. Given the function $y=x^{2/3}(x-5)$, we have $y'=x^{2/3}+\frac{2}{3}x^{-1/3}(x-5)=\frac{x}{\sqrt[3] x}+\frac{2x-10}{3\sqrt[3] x}=\frac{5(x-2)}{3\sqrt[3] x}=\frac{5}{3}(x-2)x^{-1/3}$ and $y''=\frac{5}{3}x^{-1/3}-\frac{5}{9}(x-2)x^{-4/3}=\frac{5x}{3\sqrt[3] {x^4}}-\frac{5x-10}{9\sqrt[3] {x^4}}=\frac{10(x+1)}{9\sqrt[3] {x^4}}$ Step 2. The extrema happen when $y'=0$, undefined, or at endpoints. We have $x=0,2$ as critical points with $y(0)=0, y(2)=-3\sqrt[3] 4$ Step 3. Examine the sign change of $y'$ across the critical points: $..(+)..(0)..(-)..(2)..(+)$; we can identify $y(0)=0$ as a local maximum and $y(2)=-3\sqrt[3] 4$ as a local minimum. The function does not have absolute extrema as the end behaviors are $x\to\pm\infty, y\to\pm\infty$. Step 4. The inflection points can be found when $y''=0$ or when it does not exist. We have $x=-1,0$ as possible inflection points. Step 5. To identify the intervals on which the functions are concave up and concave down, we need to examine the sign of $y''$ on different intervals. We have $..(-)..(-1)..(+)..(0)..(+)..$, Step 6. The function is concave down on $(-\infty,-1)$ and concave up on $(-1,0), (0,\infty)$; this also means that $x=0$ is not an inflection point (no concavity change) and $x=-1$ is an inflection point. Step 7. See graph.
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