the di\ufb00erences between them. A functionf has an absolute maximum (minimum) atx =c iff (c) is the largest (smallest) value that the function will ever take on the domain we are working on. By contrast, a function has a local maximum(minimum) value if it is the largest (smallest) value in its local neighborhood, not necessarily the largest (smallest) value on the entire domain off .

local and absolute extreme values on your own. There will be no lecturing by the professor. This is being done to help make you an independent learner and practitioner of mathematics who is capable of assimilating technical information and solving problems on your own without needing an expert guiding your steps. To that end, my role in this activity will be (1) to answer questions intended to clarify instructions on the activity or with the technology, (2) to make sure all groups are progressing at a reasonable pace through the activity, and (3) to help you ask proactive questions of your own work if you get stuck. I will not answer any question of the form \u201cIs this right?\u201d or a variation thereof. You will have to check your own work and be con\ufb01dent of it. When the activity is over \u2013 we plan on stopping around 7:20 \u2013 we will pool our results and discuss what happened, and correct mathematics ought to emerge from that discussion.

This will be a fourth-degree polynomial with \ufb01ve coe\ufb03cients. You can open up a slider for each of these \ufb01ve coe\ufb03cients; do so by going to theAnim menu, then toIndividual, and choose A to open a window with a slider that sets the value for the coe\ufb03cient A. Repeat this for B, C, D, and E. You can now play with the sliders to change the values of the coe\ufb03cients and watch the curve change shape as you do so. For example, the window below shows where I\u2019ve set A = 2, B =\u22125, C =\u22122, D = 2, and E = 3 so that the graph is that ofy =2x4\u2212 5x3\u2212 2x2 + 2x + 3:

Using the sliders, come up in each item below with a function having the description given. In each case, once you have come up with an appropriate function, record your values of A, B, C, D, and E in the table provided.

2. A function having a local minimum value and a local maximum value, where one of the local minimum values is also the absolute minimum value but the local maximum value is not the absolute maximum value

absolute minimum value
4. A function with at least one local minimum value but no local or absolute maximum values
5. A function with at least one local maximum value but no local or absolute minimum values
6. A function with no local or absolute extreme values at all

1. In items 1\u20135 in Part 1 of the activity, you came up with functions that had local extreme values. Go back to each of those functions (you can just reset the sliders to do so) and \ufb01nd the value of thederivative of your function at each local extreme value. You can do this by quick visual inspection; or you can go to theOne menu, then open a slider and click the box that displays the tangent line on the graph, then slide the cursor to the extreme value and read o\ufb00 the slope. What appears to be true about the derivative value of your function at every extreme value?

Notice the cusps atx =\u22121 andx = 1. Explain why we should consider the graph to have a local minimum value at these points. (In fact, these are also the absolute minimum values of the graph.) What can you say about the derivative at these two points?

4. Your discovery in question 3 will be a heavily used tool for locating extreme values of a function, but we must use it with some caution. On Winplot, plot the graph ofy =x3 + 1 and look at the graph whenx = 0. Use a slider, visual inspection, or algebra to get the value of the derivativedy/dx atx = 0. Is it true thatevery time the derivative of a function equals 0, that we obtain a local extreme value there?

For example,x = 0 is a critical number fory =x3\u2212 1. The functiony =|x2 \u2212 1| has three critical numbers:x = 1,x =\u22121, andx = 0. At the \ufb01rst two, the derivative is unde\ufb01ned (because of the cusps). At the third, the derivative is 0.

(b) Plotf on Winplot in an appropriate viewing window and look at the critical numbers you found. Does every critical number yield a local extreme value onf ? Are there any local extreme values off which do not occur at critical numbers?