3 Differentiation

3.10 Critical points

• The maximum and minimum values of a function, y(x), are examples of extrema
(singular: extremum).

• They are also examples of critical points.

• Points of inflexion are also critical points, but are not extrema.

• Points of inflexion are defined here as satisfying both y ′ (x) = 0 and y ′′ (x) = 0 but where
y ′′′ (x) 6= 0.

• We must solve y ′ (x) = 0 for x to find the locations of the any critical points.

• Example: if y(x) = x2 − 4x, then critical points correspond to y ′ (x) = 2x − 4 = 0. Hence

x = 2.

But what sort of critical point is it? We need to determine suitable tests in order identify them.
 y y
A graphical differentiation
between maxima
and minima.
x x

y′ y′

x x

y ′′ y ′′

y ′′ > 0
x x
y ′′ < 0

Figure 3.3. Depicting curves for y, y ′ and y ′′ (top to bottom) where y shows a minimum (left column) and a
maximum (right column). The dotted lines and the black disks indicate the relationship between the behaviours
of the y, y ′ and y ′′ curves in each case.
Example 3.10: Find the critical points of the function y = x3 − 3x.

We have y ′ = 3x2 − 3 ⇒ y ′ = 3(x − 1)(x + 1).

The critical points are at x = −1, 1.


6 > 0 at x = 1 ⇒ Minimum
Classification: y ′′ = 6x =
−6 < 0 at x = −1 ⇒ Maximum

Figure 3.4 confirms this analysis. y(x)

•

• • • x
−1 +1

Figure 3.4. Showing y = x3 − 3x together with its roots (black disks) and the
maximum and minimum values (red disks).
Summary so far:

The primary criterion for a critical point is that y ′ (x) = 0.

The identification of the type of critical point needs a secondary criterion:

If y ′′ (x) > 0 then it is a minimum.

If y ′′ (x) < 0 then it is a maximum.

But what happens if y ′′ (x) = 0?

Example 3.11: Find the critical points of the function y = x3 .

• Perhaps this doesn’t look sufficiently general, but I do need something with an inflexion point.

• I could have used y = x3 −6x2 +12x−7, which looks great, but this function is y = (x−2)3 +1,
which is a translated version of the above.

• Clearly y ′ = 3x2 , and the setting of this to zero yields x = 0 as the location of the critical point.

• Hence y ′′ (x) = 6x. When x = 0 then y ′′ (0) = 0, as desired. Not a maximum nor a minimum.

• The third derivative is y ′′′ (x) = 6 > 0 hence x = 0 corresponds to a point of inflexion which is
rising.
y(x)

••• x

Figure 3.5. Showing y = x3 which has a rising point of inflexion at x = 0.

Summary so far:

The primary criterion for a critical point is that y ′ (x) = 0.

If y ′′ (x) > 0 then it is a minimum.

If y ′′ (x) < 0 then it is a maximum.

If y ′′ (x) = 0 then:

If y ′′′ (0) > 0 then it is rising (or ascending) inflexion point.

If y ′′′ (0) < 0 then it is descending inflexion point.

But what happens if y ′′′ (x) = 0?

Example 3.12: Find the critical points of the function y = ax4 where a is a nonzero constant.

We already know from the curve-sketching section that this function has a quadruple root at x = 0 and
has a quartic minimum when a > 0. Let’s see how this works out....

y ′ = 4ax3 ⇒ x=0 is the sole critical point

y ′′ = 12ax2 ⇒ y ′′ (0) = 0 ⇒ is not a max/min
y ′′′ = 24ax ⇒ y ′′′ (0) = 0 ⇒ is not an inflexion point
y ′′′′ = 24a ⇒ y ′′′′ (0) = 24a ⇒ is a quartic minimum when a > 0
or is a quartic maximum when a < 0
The case a = 1 is illustrated below.
y(x)

••••• x

Figure 3.6. Showing y = x4 which has a quartic minimum at x = 0.

Example 3.13: Find and classify the critical point/points for y = x4 − 8x3 + 24x2 − 32x + 16.

This appears to be a nasty one....

y ′ = 4x3 − 24x2 + 48x − 32 ⇒ x = 2 is the sole critical point — you’ll need to trust me!

y ′′ = 12x2 − 48x + 48 ⇒ y ′′ (2) = 0 ⇒ is not a max/min

y ′′′ = 24x − 48 ⇒ y ′′′ (2) = 0 ⇒ is not an inflexion point

y ′′′′ = 24 ⇒ y ′′′′ (2) = 24 > 0 ⇒ is a quartic minimum

In general: but what if y ′′′′ (x) = 0 as well?

 Primary and secondary criteria for the different types of critical points.

y ′ y ′′ y ′′′ y ′′′′ y (5) y (6) y (7)

0 + Minimum
0 − Maximum
0 0 + Rising inflexion
0 0 − Descending inflexion
0 0 0 + Quartic minimum
0 0 0 − Quartic maximum
0 0 0 0 + Rising quintic inflexion
0 0 0 0 − Descending quintic inflexion
0 0 0 0 0 + Sextic minimum
0 0 0 0 0 − Sextic maximum
0 0 0 0 0 0 + Rising septic inflexion
0 0 0 0 0 0 − Descending septic inflexion

and on to octics, nonics and so on....

 3

x8
1

0 x

−1
x7

−2

−3
−1 −0.5 0 0.5 1

Figure 78. Showing the variation of x7 and x8 with x.

...just to show how flat these curves are.

3.11 Notation
We’ve had y(t) and y(x) here, but this doesn’t happen often. We need to try to use calculus in a
notation-independent way.

Therefore all the following examples are, in effect, identical — it’s just that the names of the variables
have changed:
dy
y = sin x2 ⇒ = 2x cos x2
dx
dx
x = sin y 2 ⇒ = 2y cos y 2
dy
2
dt
t = sin v ⇒ = 2v cos v 2
dv
dγ
γ = sin α2 ⇒ = 2α cos α2
dα
ˇ
◦
d ⊲⊳
ˇ = sin ♥2
◦
⊲⊳ ⇒ = 2♥ cos ♥2
d♥