Calculus Examples

$f (x) = x^{3}$

Step 1

Differentiate using the Power Rule which states that $\frac{d}{d x} [x^{n}]$ is $n x^{n - 1}$ where $n = 3$ .

$3 x^{2}$

Step 2

Set the derivative equal to $0$ then solve the equation $3 x^{2} = 0$ .

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Step 2.1

Divide each term in $3 x^{2} = 0$ by $3$ and simplify.

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Step 2.1.1

Divide each term in $3 x^{2} = 0$ by $3$ .

$\frac{3 x^{2}}{3} = \frac{0}{3}$

Step 2.1.2

Simplify the left side.

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Step 2.1.2.1

Cancel the common factor of $3$ .

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Step 2.1.2.1.1

Cancel the common factor.

$\frac{3 x^{2}}{3} = \frac{0}{3}$

Step 2.1.2.1.2

Divide $x^{2}$ by $1$ .

$x^{2} = \frac{0}{3}$

Step 2.1.3

Simplify the right side.

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Step 2.1.3.1

Divide $0$ by $3$ .

$x^{2} = 0$

Step 2.2

Take the specified root of both sides of the equation to eliminate the exponent on the left side.

$x = \pm \sqrt{0}$

Step 2.3

Simplify $\pm \sqrt{0}$ .

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Step 2.3.1

Rewrite $0$ as $0^{2}$ .

$x = \pm \sqrt{0^{2}}$

Step 2.3.2

Pull terms out from under the radical, assuming positive real numbers.

$x = \pm 0$

Step 2.3.3

Plus or minus $0$ is $0$ .

$x = 0$

Step 3

Solve the original function $f (x) = x^{3}$ at $x = 0$ .

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Step 3.1

Replace the variable $x$ with $0$ in the expression.

$f (0) = {(0)}^{3}$

Step 3.2

Simplify the result.

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Step 3.2.1

Raising $0$ to any positive power yields $0$ .

$f (0) = 0$

Step 3.2.2

The final answer is $0$ .

$0$

Step 4

The horizontal tangent line on function $f (x) = x^{3}$ is $y = 0$ .

$y = 0$

Step 5