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Maxima and minima x 2: Unique global minimum at x = 0. x 3: No global minima or maxima. Although the first derivative (3x 2) is 0 at x = 0, this is an inflection point. (2nd derivative is 0 at that point.) Unique global maximum at x = e. (See figure at right) x −x: Unique global maximum over the positive real numbers at x = 1/e.
Marston Morse applied calculus of variations in what is now called Morse theory. [6] Lev Pontryagin, Ralph Rockafellar and F. H. Clarke developed new mathematical tools for the calculus of variations in optimal control theory. [6] The dynamic programming of Richard Bellman is an alternative to the calculus of variations. [7] [8] [9] [c]
Fermat's theorem is central to the calculus method of determining maxima and minima: in one dimension, one can find extrema by simply computing the stationary points (by computing the zeros of the derivative), the non-differentiable points, and the boundary points, and then investigating this set to determine the extrema.
In numerical analysis, a quasi-Newton method is an iterative numerical method used either to find zeroes or to find local maxima and minima of functions via an iterative recurrence formula much like the one for Newton's method, except using approximations of the derivatives of the functions in place of exact derivatives.
In calculus, a derivative test uses the derivatives of a function to locate the critical points of a function and determine whether each point is a local maximum, a local minimum, or a saddle point. Derivative tests can also give information about the concavity of a function.
Adequality is a technique developed by Pierre de Fermat in his treatise Methodus ad disquirendam maximam et minimam [1] (a Latin treatise circulated in France c. 1636 ) to calculate maxima and minima of functions, tangents to curves, area, center of mass, least action, and other problems in calculus.
He obtained, for example, that the maximum (for positive x) of the cubic ax 2 – x 3 occurs when x = 2a / 3, and concluded therefrom that the equation ax 2 = x 3 + c has exactly one positive solution when c = 4a 3 / 27, and two positive solutions whenever 0 < c < 4a 3 / 27. [8] [page needed] The historian of science, Roshdi Rashed, [8] [page ...
A saddle point (in red) on the graph of z = x 2 − y 2 (hyperbolic paraboloid). In mathematics, a saddle point or minimax point [1] is a point on the surface of the graph of a function where the slopes (derivatives) in orthogonal directions are all zero (a critical point), but which is not a local extremum of the function. [2]