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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.
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, [29] and the third derivative ...
The derivative of f ′ (if it has one) is written f ′′ and is called the second derivative of f. Similarly, the derivative of the second derivative, if it exists, is written f ′′′ and is called the third derivative of f. Continuing this process, one can define, if it exists, the n th derivative as the derivative of the (n-1) th ...
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.
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.
In an analogous way, one can obtain finite difference approximations to higher order derivatives and differential operators. For example, by using the above central difference formula for f ′(x + h / 2 ) and f ′(x − h / 2 ) and applying a central difference formula for the derivative of f ′ at x, we obtain the central difference approximation of the second derivative of f:
If the derivative f vanishes at p, then f − f(p) belongs to the square I p 2 of this ideal. Hence the derivative of f at p may be captured by the equivalence class [f − f(p)] in the quotient space I p /I p 2, and the 1-jet of f (which encodes its value and its first derivative) is the equivalence class of f in the space of all functions ...