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The higher-order derivative test or general derivative test is able to determine whether a function's critical points are maxima, minima, or points of inflection for a wider variety of functions than the second-order derivative test. As shown below, the second-derivative test is mathematically identical to the special case of n = 1 in the ...
This is called the second derivative test. An alternative approach, called the first derivative test, involves considering the sign of the f' on each side of the critical point. Taking derivatives and solving for critical points is therefore often a simple way to find local minima or maxima, which can be useful in optimization.
To get the coefficients of the backward approximations from those of the forward ones, give all odd derivatives listed in the table in the previous section the opposite sign, whereas for even derivatives the signs stay the same. The following table illustrates this: [5]
One application of higher-order derivatives is in physics. Suppose that a function represents the position of an object at the time. The first derivative of that function is the velocity of an object with respect to time, the second derivative of the function is the acceleration of an object with respect to time, [30] and the third derivative ...
In mathematics, the comparison test, sometimes called the direct comparison test to distinguish it from similar related tests (especially the limit comparison test), provides a way of deducing whether an infinite series or an improper integral converges or diverges by comparing the series or integral to one whose convergence properties are known.
The second derivative of a function f can be used to determine the concavity of the graph of f. [2] A function whose second derivative is positive is said to be concave up (also referred to as convex), meaning that the tangent line near the point where it touches the function will lie below the graph of the function.
One can do this either by evaluating the function at each point and taking the maximum, or by analyzing the derivatives further, using the first derivative test, the second derivative test, or the higher-order derivative test.
Then there is a number c in (a, b) such that the n th derivative of f at c is zero. The red curve is the graph of function with 3 roots in the interval [−3, 2]. Thus its second derivative (graphed in green) also has a root in the same interval.