Concavity, concave upwards and concave downwards intervals

What I have here in yellow is the graph of y=f（x）.

That here in this move color I’ve graphed y’s equal

to the derivative of f, is f′(x).And then here

in blue I graphed y is equal to the second derivative of our function.

So this is the derivative of this, of the first

derivative right over there. And we’ve already seen examples of how

can we identify minimum and maximum points. Obviously, if we have a graph in front of us,

it’s not hard for human brain to identify this as a local

maximum point. The function might take on higher values later on. And

to identify this as a local minimum point. The function might take on

lower values later on. But we saw, even if we don’t have a graph in front of

us, if we are able to take the derivative of the function, we might…

or if we are not able to take the derivative of the function. We might be able to identify

these points as maximum or minimum. The way that we did it. Ok… what are the critical

points for this function. Well, critical points over the function where the function’s

derivative is either undefined or zero. This the function’s derivative.

It’s zero here and here. So we would call those critical points.

I don’t see any undefined. Any point was the derivative’s undefined

just yet. So we would call here and

here, critical points. So these are candidate

minimum…these are candidate points which are function might take on a minimum or

maximum value. And the way that we figured out whether it was a minimum or maximum

value is to look at the behavior of the derivative around that point

and over here we saw the derivative is de...or the

derivative is positive.The derivative is positive

as we approach that point

and then it becomes negative. It goes from being positive

to negative as we cross that point which means that the function]

was increasing. If the derivative is positive that means the function was increasing

as we approach that point and then decreasing as we leave that point.

Which is a pretty good way to think about this… Being a maximum point,

for increasing as we approach and decreasing as we leave it. Then this is definitely going

to be a maximum point. Similarly,

right over here, we see that the function is negative or the derivative

is negative as we approach the point which means that the

function is decreasing. And we see the derivative is

positive as we exit that point. We go for having a negative derivative to a positive

derivative which means the function goes from decreasing to

increasing right around that point, which is a pretty good indication.

Or that is an indication, that this critical point is a point at which the

function takes on a minimum…a minimum value.

What I want do now is to extend things by using

the ideal of concavity… con-ca[ei]-vity.

And I know I’m mispronouncing it, maybe it’s conca[æ]vity,

but new thinking about concavity. Start to look at the second

derivative, it rather than kind of seeing just as transition. To think about

whether this is a minimum or maximum point. So

let’s think about what’s happening in this first region. This kind of …this part of

the curve up here where is it looks like an arc where it’s

opening downward. Where it looks kinda like an “A” without the crossbeam or upside

down “U” and then we’ll think about what’s happening in this kind of upward

opening “U”, part of the curve. So over this first

interval right over here, if we start we get this slope is very…is

very ( actually I’ll do it in the same color, exactly the same color that

I used for the actual derivative) the slope is very positive

..slope is very positive. Then it becomes less positive...becomes

less positive…then it becomes even less positive…becomes even less

positive…and eventually gets to zero…eventually gets to zero. Then it keeps

decreasing. Now becomes slightly negative…slightly negative. Then

it becomes even more negative…becomes even more negative…and

then it stops decreasing right around. It looks like it stops decreasing right

around there. So the slope stops decreasing right around there. You see that in the red ,

the slope is decreasing…decreasing…decreasing……until that point and

then it starts to increase. So this entire section,

this entire section right over here…

the slope is decreasing. “Slope…

slope is decreasing” and

you see it right over here when we take the derivative, the deri…ative

right over here… the entire, over this entire interval is decreasing.

And we also see that when we take the second derivative. If the derivative is

decreasing that means that the second, the derivative of the derivative is

negative and we see that is indeed the case

over this entire interval. The second derivative, the second

derivative is indeed negative. Now what

happens as we start to transition to this upward opening ”U” part of the curve.

Well here the derivative is reasonably negative,

it’s reasonably negative right there. But then it starts gets…it’s

still negative but it becomes less negative and less negative

…then it becomes zero,

it becomes zero right over here. And then it becomes more and

more and more positive, and you see that right over here. So over this

entire interval, the slope or the derivative is increasing.

So the slope...slope is

is increasing…the slope is increasing.And you

see this over here, over there the slope is zero. The slope of the derivative is

zero, the slope of the derivative self isn’t changing right this moment and then

…and then you see that the slope is increasing.

And once again we can visualize that on the second derivative, the derivative of the derivative.

If the derivative is increasing that means the derivative of that must be positive.

And it is indeed the case that the derivative is

positive. And we have a word for this downward

opening “U” and this upward opening “U”. we call this

“ concave downwards”

(let me make this clear)…

concave downwards.

And we call this “ concave upwards”… concave

upwards. So let’s review how we can identify concave

downwards intervals and upwards intervals. So we are talking about concave

downwards…”concave downwards”.

We see several things,

we see that the slope is decreasing, the slope is

is decreasing.“The slope

is decreasing” which is another way of saying,

which is another way of saying that f’(x)

is decreasing.

decreasing. Which is another way of saying that the

second derivative must be negative. If the first derivative is decreasing, the second

the second derivative must be negative. Which is another way

of saying that the second derivative of that interval must

be… must be negative. So if you have

negative second derivative, then you are in a concave

downward interval. Similarly…similarly

(I have trouble saying that word), let’s think about concave upwards,

where you have an upward opening “U”. Concave upwards.

In these intervals, the slope is increasing,

we have negative slope, less negative, less negative…zero, positive, more positive, more

positive…even more positive. So slope...slope

is increasing. "Slope is

increasing which means

that the derivative of the function is

increasing. And you see that right over

here, this derivative is increasing in value,

which means that the second derivative，the second derivative

over the interval where we are concave upwards must be greater than zero,

the second derivative is greater than zero that means the first derivative is increasing,

which means that the slope is increasing. We are in a concave upward,

we are in a concave upward interval. Now,

given all these definitions we’ve just given for concave downwards

and concave upwards interval, can we come out with another way of indentifying whether a critical point

is a minimum point or maximum point.

Well, if you have a maximum point, if you have a critical point where the

function...where the function is concave downwards,

then it going to be a maximum point."Concave downwards". Let’s just be clear here,

means that it’s opening down like this

and we are talking about a critical point. If we’re assuming it’s concave downwards

over here, we’re assuming differentiability over this interval and so the critical point

is gonna be one where the slope is zero, so it’s gonna be that point

right over there. So if you have a concave upwards and you have a point where

f’(a) = 0

then we have a maximum point at a.

And similarly if we are a concave upwards

that means that our function looks something like this and if we

found the point. Obviously a critical point could also be where the function is not

defined. But if we are assuming that our first derivative and second derivative is

defined here then the critical point is going to be one where the first derivative is

going to be zero, so f’(a)

f’(a)= 0.If f’(a)= 0

and if we are concave upwards and the interval around

a, so the second derivative is greater than zero, then it’s pretty

clear you see here that we are dealing with… we are dealing with a minimum,

a minimum point at a .