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A critical point of a function of a single real variable, f (x), is a value x 0 in the domain of f where f is not differentiable or its derivative is 0 (i.e. ′ =). [2] A critical value is the image under f of a critical point.
A plot of typical polymer solution phase behavior including two critical points: a LCST and an UCST. The liquid–liquid critical point of a solution, which occurs at the critical solution temperature, occurs at the limit of the two-phase region of the phase diagram. In other words, it is the point at which an infinitesimal change in some ...
A phase diagram displaying spinodal curves, within the binodal coexistence curves and two critical points: an upper and lower critical solution temperature.. In thermodynamics, the limit of local stability against phase separation with respect to small fluctuations is clearly defined by the condition that the second derivative of Gibbs free energy is zero.
At the remaining critical point (0, 0) the second derivative test is insufficient, and one must use higher order tests or other tools to determine the behavior of the function at this point. (In fact, one can show that f takes both positive and negative values in small neighborhoods around (0, 0) and so this point is a saddle point of f .)
A line, usually vertical, represents an interval of the domain of the derivative.The critical points (i.e., roots of the derivative , points such that () =) are indicated, and the intervals between the critical points have their signs indicated with arrows: an interval over which the derivative is positive has an arrow pointing in the positive direction along the line (up or right), and an ...
The Hessian matrix plays an important role in Morse theory and catastrophe theory, because its kernel and eigenvalues allow classification of the critical points. [2] [3] [4] The determinant of the Hessian matrix, when evaluated at a critical point of a function, is equal to the Gaussian curvature of the function considered as a manifold. The ...
Percolation theory is a particularly simple and fundamental model in statistical mechanics which has a critical point, and a great deal of work has been done in finding its critical exponents, both theoretically (limited to two dimensions) and numerically. Critical exponents exist for a variety of observables, but most of them are linked to ...
If b 2 – 3ac = 0, then there is only one critical point, which is an inflection point. If b 2 – 3ac < 0, then there are no (real) critical points. In the two latter cases, that is, if b 2 – 3ac is nonpositive, the cubic function is strictly monotonic. See the figure for an example of the case Δ 0 > 0. The inflection point of a function ...