What does curve sketching mean?
Curve sketching is a calculation to find all the characteristic points of a function, e.g. roots, y-axis-intercept, maximum and minimum turning points, inflection points.How to get those points?
By calculating derivatives. Then you set the function as well as the derivative equal to zero: Roots are solutions of the equationWhy is curve skething done less nowadays?
It is a bit stupid: You just have to learn a way to do the same point calculations every time without thinking too much about their meaning. Therefore, exercises where you have to think about the meaning of those points become more important nowadays.Can I take a look at an example?
Of course. Lets sketch the curveMathepower works with this function:
Roots: Looking for roots of
Symmetry: Calculate the y-axis intercept by inserting 0. Insert 0 into the function So, the y-axis intercept is at (0|0) Diffentiate the function
Second derivative, i.e. derivative of
Third derivative, i.e. derivative of The derivative of So the third derivative is Looking for turning points. We have to find roots of the first derivative. Looking for roots of
Insert the roots of the first derivative into the second derivative: Insert -0.577 into the function -3.464 is less than 0. So there is a maximum at Insert -0.577 into the function Maximum turning point (-0.577|0.385) Insert 0.577 into the function 3.464 is larger than 0. So there is a mimimum at Insert 0.577 into the function Minimum turning point (0.577|-0.385) Looking for inflection points. We have to find roots of the second derivative. Looking for roots of
Insert the roots of the second derivative into the third derivative: The third derivative does not contain x , so insertion gives 6 6 is larger than 0, so there is an inflection point at Insert 0 into the function Inflection point (0|0) |