Calculus Examples

$f (x) = (x - 1) e^{x}$

Step 1

Find the first derivative of the function.

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Step 1.1

Differentiate using the Product Rule which states that $\frac{d}{d x} [f (x) g (x)]$ is $f (x) \frac{d}{d x} [g (x)] + g (x) \frac{d}{d x} [f (x)]$ where $f (x) = x - 1$ and $g (x) = e^{x}$ .

$(x - 1) \frac{d}{d x} [e^{x}] + e^{x} \frac{d}{d x} [x - 1]$

Step 1.2

Differentiate using the Exponential Rule which states that $\frac{d}{d x} [a^{x}]$ is $a^{x} \ln (a)$ where $a$ = $e$ .

$(x - 1) e^{x} + e^{x} \frac{d}{d x} [x - 1]$

Step 1.3

Differentiate.

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Step 1.3.1

By the Sum Rule, the derivative of $x - 1$ with respect to $x$ is $\frac{d}{d x} [x] + \frac{d}{d x} [- 1]$ .

$(x - 1) e^{x} + e^{x} (\frac{d}{d x} [x] + \frac{d}{d x} [- 1])$

Step 1.3.2

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

$(x - 1) e^{x} + e^{x} (1 + \frac{d}{d x} [- 1])$

Step 1.3.3

Since $- 1$ is constant with respect to $x$ , the derivative of $- 1$ with respect to $x$ is $0$ .

$(x - 1) e^{x} + e^{x} (1 + 0)$

Step 1.3.4

Simplify the expression.

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Step 1.3.4.1

Add $1$ and $0$ .

$(x - 1) e^{x} + e^{x} \cdot 1$

Step 1.3.4.2

Multiply $e^{x}$ by $1$ .

$(x - 1) e^{x} + e^{x}$

Step 1.4

Simplify.

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Step 1.4.1

Apply the distributive property.

$x e^{x} - 1 e^{x} + e^{x}$

Step 1.4.2

Combine terms.

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Step 1.4.2.1

Rewrite $- 1 e^{x}$ as $- e^{x}$ .

$x e^{x} - e^{x} + e^{x}$

Step 1.4.2.2

Add $- e^{x}$ and $e^{x}$ .

$x e^{x} + 0$

Step 1.4.2.3

Add $x e^{x}$ and $0$ .

$x e^{x}$

Step 1.4.3

Reorder the factors of $x e^{x}$ .

$e^{x} x$

Step 1.4.4

Reorder factors in $e^{x} x$ .

$x e^{x}$

Step 2

Find the second derivative of the function.

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Step 2.1

Differentiate using the Product Rule which states that $\frac{d}{d x} [f (x) g (x)]$ is $f (x) \frac{d}{d x} [g (x)] + g (x) \frac{d}{d x} [f (x)]$ where $f (x) = x$ and $g (x) = e^{x}$ .

$f'' (x) = x \frac{d}{d x} (e^{x}) + e^{x} \frac{d}{d x} (x)$

Step 2.2

Differentiate using the Exponential Rule which states that $\frac{d}{d x} [a^{x}]$ is $a^{x} \ln (a)$ where $a$ = $e$ .

$f'' (x) = x e^{x} + e^{x} \frac{d}{d x} (x)$

Step 2.3

Differentiate using the Power Rule.

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Step 2.3.1

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

$f'' (x) = x e^{x} + e^{x} \cdot 1$

Step 2.3.2

Multiply $e^{x}$ by $1$ .

$f'' (x) = x e^{x} + e^{x}$

Step 3

To find the local maximum and minimum values of the function, set the derivative equal to $0$ and solve.

$x e^{x} = 0$

Step 4

Find the first derivative.

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Step 4.1

Find the first derivative.

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Step 4.1.1

Differentiate using the Product Rule which states that $\frac{d}{d x} [f (x) g (x)]$ is $f (x) \frac{d}{d x} [g (x)] + g (x) \frac{d}{d x} [f (x)]$ where $f (x) = x - 1$ and $g (x) = e^{x}$ .

$(x - 1) \frac{d}{d x} [e^{x}] + e^{x} \frac{d}{d x} [x - 1]$

Step 4.1.2

Differentiate using the Exponential Rule which states that $\frac{d}{d x} [a^{x}]$ is $a^{x} \ln (a)$ where $a$ = $e$ .

$(x - 1) e^{x} + e^{x} \frac{d}{d x} [x - 1]$

Step 4.1.3

Differentiate.

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Step 4.1.3.1

By the Sum Rule, the derivative of $x - 1$ with respect to $x$ is $\frac{d}{d x} [x] + \frac{d}{d x} [- 1]$ .

$(x - 1) e^{x} + e^{x} (\frac{d}{d x} [x] + \frac{d}{d x} [- 1])$

Step 4.1.3.2

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

$(x - 1) e^{x} + e^{x} (1 + \frac{d}{d x} [- 1])$

Step 4.1.3.3

Since $- 1$ is constant with respect to $x$ , the derivative of $- 1$ with respect to $x$ is $0$ .

$(x - 1) e^{x} + e^{x} (1 + 0)$

Step 4.1.3.4

Simplify the expression.

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Step 4.1.3.4.1

Add $1$ and $0$ .

$(x - 1) e^{x} + e^{x} \cdot 1$

Step 4.1.3.4.2

Multiply $e^{x}$ by $1$ .

$(x - 1) e^{x} + e^{x}$

Step 4.1.4

Simplify.

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Step 4.1.4.1

Apply the distributive property.

$x e^{x} - 1 e^{x} + e^{x}$

Step 4.1.4.2

Combine terms.

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Step 4.1.4.2.1

Rewrite $- 1 e^{x}$ as $- e^{x}$ .

$x e^{x} - e^{x} + e^{x}$

Step 4.1.4.2.2

Add $- e^{x}$ and $e^{x}$ .

$x e^{x} + 0$

Step 4.1.4.2.3

Add $x e^{x}$ and $0$ .

$x e^{x}$

Step 4.1.4.3

Reorder the factors of $x e^{x}$ .

$e^{x} x$

Step 4.1.4.4

Reorder factors in $e^{x} x$ .

$f' (x) = x e^{x}$

Step 4.2

The first derivative of $f (x)$ with respect to $x$ is $x e^{x}$ .

$x e^{x}$

Step 5

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

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Step 5.1

Set the first derivative equal to $0$ .

$x e^{x} = 0$

Step 5.2

If any individual factor on the left side of the equation is equal to $0$ , the entire expression will be equal to $0$ .

$x = 0$

$e^{x} = 0$

Step 5.3

Set $x$ equal to $0$ .

$x = 0$

Step 5.4

Set $e^{x}$ equal to $0$ and solve for $x$ .

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Step 5.4.1

Set $e^{x}$ equal to $0$ .

$e^{x} = 0$

Step 5.4.2

Solve $e^{x} = 0$ for $x$ .

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Step 5.4.2.1

Take the natural logarithm of both sides of the equation to remove the variable from the exponent.

$\ln (e^{x}) = \ln (0)$

Step 5.4.2.2

The equation cannot be solved because $\ln (0)$ is undefined.

Undefined

Step 5.4.2.3

There is no solution for $e^{x} = 0$

No solution

Step 5.5

The final solution is all the values that make $x e^{x} = 0$ true.

$x = 0$

Step 6

Find the values where the derivative is undefined.

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Step 6.1

The domain of the expression is all real numbers except where the expression is undefined. In this case, there is no real number that makes the expression undefined.

Step 7

Critical points to evaluate.

$x = 0$

Step 8

Evaluate the second derivative at $x = 0$ . If the second derivative is positive, then this is a local minimum. If it is negative, then this is a local maximum.

$(0) e^{0} + e^{0}$

Step 9

Evaluate the second derivative.

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Step 9.1

Simplify each term.

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Step 9.1.1

Anything raised to $0$ is $1$ .

$0 \cdot 1 + e^{0}$

Step 9.1.2

Multiply $0$ by $1$ .

$0 + e^{0}$

Step 9.1.3

Anything raised to $0$ is $1$ .

$0 + 1$

Step 9.2

Add $0$ and $1$ .

$1$

Step 10

$x = 0$ is a local minimum because the value of the second derivative is positive. This is referred to as the second derivative test.

$x = 0$ is a local minimum

Step 11

Find the y-value when $x = 0$ .

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Step 11.1

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

$f (0) = ((0) - 1) \cdot e^{0}$

Step 11.2

Simplify the result.

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Step 11.2.1

Subtract $1$ from $0$ .

$f (0) = - 1 \cdot e^{0}$

Step 11.2.2

Anything raised to $0$ is $1$ .

$f (0) = - 1 \cdot 1$

Step 11.2.3

Multiply $- 1$ by $1$ .

$f (0) = - 1$

Step 11.2.4

The final answer is $- 1$ .

$y = - 1$

Step 12

These are the local extrema for $f (x) = (x - 1) e^{x}$ .

$(0, - 1)$ is a local minima

Step 13