MATH066 / PHYS066 / ECON066 / ENV066, AY 2024 - 25, T2

Solution of Assignment 9 : Maxima, Minima;

Regions of Increase / Decrease; Sketching Graphs

1. A point c is said to be a stationary point of the function f if f ′ (c) = 0. Find the stationary
points of the following functions. Determine if these points are local maxima or minima.

(I) x2 − 3x + 2
(II) x3 − 3x
(III) sin(x)
(IV) x3 + 2x
(V) x−1 − 2x−2

Solution : A point c is said to be a stationary point of the function f if f ′ (c) = 0 and c is said
to be a local maxima of f if f ′′ (c) < 0 and a local minima of f if f ′′ (c) > 0.

(I) Let f (x) = x2 − 3x + 2. Then f ′ (x) = 2x − 3 and f ′′ (x) = 2. Stationary points of f (x)
are those x ∈ R at which f ′ (x) = 0. Now f ′ (x) = 0 implies 2x − 3 = 0, which implies
x = 23 . Therefore stationary point or critical point of f (x) is x = 32 . Since f ′′ (x) = 2 > 0 at
x = 3/2, so x = 23 is a local minima of f (x).

(II) Let g(x) = x3 − 3x. Then g ′ (x) = 3x2 − 3 and g ′′ (x) = 6x. Stationary points of g(x) are
those x ∈ R at which g ′ (x) = 0. Now g ′ (x) = 0 implies 3x2 − 3 = 0, which implies x = ±1.
Therefore stationary points or critical points of g(x) are x = ±1. Note that g ′′ (x) = 6 > 0
at x = 1, so x = 1 is a local minima of g(x) and g ′′ (x) = −6 < 0 at x = −1, so x = −1 is a
local maxima of g(x)

(III) h(x) = sin(x). Then h′ (x) = cos(x) and h′′ (x) = − sin(x). To find the stationary points
of h(x), we set first derivative equals to 0, i.e, h′ (x) = 0, which implies cos(x) = 0. From
trigonometry, we know cos(x) = 0 at x = nπ + π2 , where n is any integer. Therefore,
x = nπ + π2 are the stationary points of h(x).
When n is odd integer, say n = 2k −1, x = (2k −1)π + π2 = (4k −1) π2 , where k is any integer
and at these stationary points h′′ (x) = 1 > 0. Therefore, x = (4k − 1) π2 , where k ∈ Z, are
local minima of h(x). Also note that, when n is even integer, x = 2kπ + π2 = (4k + 1) π2 ,
where k is any integer, and at these points h′′ (x) = −1 < 0. Therefore, x = (4k + 1) π2 ,
where k ∈ Z, are local maxima of h(x).

(IV) Let p(x) = x3 + 2x. Then Then p′ (x) = 3x2 + 2. Stationary points of p(x) are those x ∈ R
at which p′ (x) = 0. Now p′ (x) = 0 implies 3x2 + 2 = 0, which implies x2 = − 23 . Since x2
cannot be negative for real numbers, there are no real solutions. Therefore, there are no
critical points for the function p(x) = x3 + 2x in the set of real numbers.

(V) Let q(x) = x−1 − 2x−2 . Then q ′ (x) = −x−2 + 4x−3 and q ′′ (x) = 2x−3 − 12x−4 . Stationary
points of q(x) are those x ∈ R at which q ′ (x) = 0. Now q ′ (x) = 0 implies −x−2 + 4x−3 = 0,
which implies x = 4. Therefore stationary point or critical point of q(x) is x = 4. Since
q ′′ (4) = − 64
1
< 0, q(x) has local maxima at x = 4.
2. Determine the intervals in which the following functions are increasing/decreasing:

(I) x2 − x + 5
(II) −x3 + 2x + 1
(III) sin(x) + cos(x)

Solution : Given a function f which is continuous in some interval, and differentiable in the
interval (excluding the end points), if

(a) f ′ (x) = 0 in the interval (excluding the end points), then f is constant.

(b) f ′ (x) > 0 in the interval (excluding the end points), then f is increasing.

(c) f ′ (x) < 0 in the interval (excluding the end points), then f is decreasing.

(I) Let g(x) = x2 − x + 5. The derivative is g ′ (x) = 2x − 1. Note that g ′ (x) > 0 for x > 12
and g ′ (x) < 0 for x < 21 . So g is increasing for x > 12 and decreasing for x < 21 . Also g
is
 1continuous everywhere, since it is a polynomial and therefore g is increasing function on
1


2
, ∞ and decreasing function on −∞, 2
.

(II) Let h(x) = −x3 + 2x + 1. Then h′ (x) = −3x2q + 2. Now q h′ (x) > 0 implies −3x2 + 2 > 0,
implying that x2 < 32 , which is equivalent to − 23 < x < 23 .
q q
Again h′ (x) < 0 when x2 > 23 , which is equivalent to saying either x > 23 , or, x < − 23 .
q q q
Thus h is increasing for − 23 < x < 2
3
and decreasing either for x > 2
3
or, for
q
x < − 23 . Since h(x) is a continuous function, so the interval in which h(x) is increasing
h q q i  q i hq 
is − 23 , 2
3
and the interval in which h is decreasing is −∞, − 2
3
∪ 2
3
, ∞ .

(III) Let F (x) = sin(x) + cos(x). Here, we consider the interval [0, 2π].
Then F ′ (x) = cos x − sin x. Now F (x) is increasing when F ′ (x) > 0, i.e, when cos x > sin x
and this inequality holds for 0 < x < π/4 and 5π/4 < x < 2π. F (x) is decreasing if
F ′ (x) < 0, or, cos x < sin x and this holds for π/4 < x < 5π/4. F (x) is continuous function,
so F (x) is increasing for 0 ≤ x ≤ π/4 and 5π/4 ≤ x ≤ 2π and F (x) is decreasing for
π/4 ≤ x ≤ 5π/4.

3. Determine the points at which the function x3 − x − 1 attains local minima/maxima. Find the
maximum and minimum values attained by this function in the interval [−1.5, 0]. Draw a rough
sketch of the graph of this function.

Solution : Let y = h(x) = x3 − x − 1. √ √

When x = 0, we have y = −1 and derivative is h′ (x) = 3x2 − 1 = ( 3x + 1)( 3x − 1). h′ (x) = 0
when x = ± √13 , and these are the critical points for h(x). The derivative h′ (x) > 0 when
−1
3x2 − 1 > 0, i.e., when x2 > 31 which is equivalent to saying either x > √13 or, x < √ 3
and these
′ −1
are the regions of increase. Again h (x) < 0 when 3x − 1 < 0, implying that √3 < x < √13 ,
2

−1
which is the region of decrease. Since the function increases when x < √ 3
and decreases when
−1 −1
x > √3 , we conclude that x = √3 is a local maxima.
Now
  3
−1 −1 1
h √ = √ + √ −1
3 3 3
−1 1
= √ + √ −1
3 3 3
2
= √ − 1 ≈ −0.62.
3 3

Again, the function decreases when x < √1 and increases when x > √1 . So, x = √1 is a local
3 3 3
minima and h( √13 ) = − 3√2 3 − 1 ≈ −1.38.

Now, let us consider the interval [−1.5, 0]. Since h(x) is a polynomial, h is continuous func-
tion everywhere on R, and therefore h is continuous on [−1.5, 0]. Continuous function defined
on a closed interval attains its maximum and minimum value at some points in this interval.
So, h attains its maximum and minimum values on [−1.5, 0]. Note that, − √13 ∈ [−1.5, 0] and
√1 ∈/ [−1.5, 0]. Therefore, by previous result h attains its maximum value at x = − √13 on
3
[−1.5, 0] and maximum value is 3√2 3 − 1 ≈ −0.62.
Now let us find the value of h at the end points. h(−1.5) = (−1.5)3 − (−1.5) − 1 = −3.375 +
1.5 − 1 = −2.875 and h(0) = −1. Since −2.875 < −1, h attains its minimum value at x = −1.5
on the interval [−1.5, 0] and minimum value is −2.875.

As x becomes very large positive or negative, x12 and x13 are very small, approaches to 0, but x3
is very large positive when x is very large positive and x3 is very large negative when x is very
large negative. Hence our function h(x) is very large positive when x is very large positive and
h(x) is very large negative when x is very large negative as we see if put it in the form

1 1
h(x) = x3 (1 − x2
− x3
)

This means h(x) → +∞ when x → +∞ and  h(x) → −∞

i hwhen x → −∞. h i
1
Again, we have already seen h increase on −∞, − √3 ∪ √13 , ∞ and decrease on − √13 , √1
3
.

Putting all this information together, one can see the graph looks like this:

−4 −2 2 4
−2

−4