Calculus Examples

Find the Inflection Points e^(-x^2)
Step 1
Write as a function.
Step 2
Find the second derivative.
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Step 2.1
Find the first derivative.
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Step 2.1.1
Differentiate using the chain rule, which states that is where and .
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Step 2.1.1.1
To apply the Chain Rule, set as .
Step 2.1.1.2
Differentiate using the Exponential Rule which states that is where =.
Step 2.1.1.3
Replace all occurrences of with .
Step 2.1.2
Differentiate.
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Step 2.1.2.1
Since is constant with respect to , the derivative of with respect to is .
Step 2.1.2.2
Differentiate using the Power Rule which states that is where .
Step 2.1.2.3
Multiply by .
Step 2.1.3
Simplify.
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Step 2.1.3.1
Reorder the factors of .
Step 2.1.3.2
Reorder factors in .
Step 2.2
Find the second derivative.
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Step 2.2.1
Since is constant with respect to , the derivative of with respect to is .
Step 2.2.2
Differentiate using the Product Rule which states that is where and .
Step 2.2.3
Differentiate using the chain rule, which states that is where and .
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Step 2.2.3.1
To apply the Chain Rule, set as .
Step 2.2.3.2
Differentiate using the Exponential Rule which states that is where =.
Step 2.2.3.3
Replace all occurrences of with .
Step 2.2.4
Differentiate.
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Step 2.2.4.1
Since is constant with respect to , the derivative of with respect to is .
Step 2.2.4.2
Differentiate using the Power Rule which states that is where .
Step 2.2.4.3
Multiply by .
Step 2.2.5
Raise to the power of .
Step 2.2.6
Raise to the power of .
Step 2.2.7
Use the power rule to combine exponents.
Step 2.2.8
Simplify the expression.
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Step 2.2.8.1
Add and .
Step 2.2.8.2
Move to the left of .
Step 2.2.9
Differentiate using the Power Rule which states that is where .
Step 2.2.10
Multiply by .
Step 2.2.11
Simplify.
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Step 2.2.11.1
Apply the distributive property.
Step 2.2.11.2
Multiply by .
Step 2.2.11.3
Reorder terms.
Step 2.2.11.4
Reorder factors in .
Step 2.3
The second derivative of with respect to is .
Step 3
Set the second derivative equal to then solve the equation .
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Step 3.1
Set the second derivative equal to .
Step 3.2
Factor out of .
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Step 3.2.1
Factor out of .
Step 3.2.2
Factor out of .
Step 3.2.3
Factor out of .
Step 3.3
If any individual factor on the left side of the equation is equal to , the entire expression will be equal to .
Step 3.4
Set equal to and solve for .
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Step 3.4.1
Set equal to .
Step 3.4.2
Solve for .
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Step 3.4.2.1
Take the natural logarithm of both sides of the equation to remove the variable from the exponent.
Step 3.4.2.2
The equation cannot be solved because is undefined.
Undefined
Step 3.4.2.3
There is no solution for
No solution
No solution
No solution
Step 3.5
Set equal to and solve for .
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Step 3.5.1
Set equal to .
Step 3.5.2
Solve for .
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Step 3.5.2.1
Add to both sides of the equation.
Step 3.5.2.2
Divide each term in by and simplify.
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Step 3.5.2.2.1
Divide each term in by .
Step 3.5.2.2.2
Simplify the left side.
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Step 3.5.2.2.2.1
Cancel the common factor of .
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Step 3.5.2.2.2.1.1
Cancel the common factor.
Step 3.5.2.2.2.1.2
Divide by .
Step 3.5.2.3
Take the specified root of both sides of the equation to eliminate the exponent on the left side.
Step 3.5.2.4
Simplify .
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Step 3.5.2.4.1
Rewrite as .
Step 3.5.2.4.2
Any root of is .
Step 3.5.2.4.3
Multiply by .
Step 3.5.2.4.4
Combine and simplify the denominator.
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Step 3.5.2.4.4.1
Multiply by .
Step 3.5.2.4.4.2
Raise to the power of .
Step 3.5.2.4.4.3
Raise to the power of .
Step 3.5.2.4.4.4
Use the power rule to combine exponents.
Step 3.5.2.4.4.5
Add and .
Step 3.5.2.4.4.6
Rewrite as .
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Step 3.5.2.4.4.6.1
Use to rewrite as .
Step 3.5.2.4.4.6.2
Apply the power rule and multiply exponents, .
Step 3.5.2.4.4.6.3
Combine and .
Step 3.5.2.4.4.6.4
Cancel the common factor of .
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Step 3.5.2.4.4.6.4.1
Cancel the common factor.
Step 3.5.2.4.4.6.4.2
Rewrite the expression.
Step 3.5.2.4.4.6.5
Evaluate the exponent.
Step 3.5.2.5
The complete solution is the result of both the positive and negative portions of the solution.
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Step 3.5.2.5.1
First, use the positive value of the to find the first solution.
Step 3.5.2.5.2
Next, use the negative value of the to find the second solution.
Step 3.5.2.5.3
The complete solution is the result of both the positive and negative portions of the solution.
Step 3.6
The final solution is all the values that make true.
Step 4
Find the points where the second derivative is .
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Step 4.1
Substitute in to find the value of .
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Step 4.1.1
Replace the variable with in the expression.
Step 4.1.2
Simplify the result.
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Step 4.1.2.1
Apply the product rule to .
Step 4.1.2.2
Rewrite as .
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Step 4.1.2.2.1
Use to rewrite as .
Step 4.1.2.2.2
Apply the power rule and multiply exponents, .
Step 4.1.2.2.3
Combine and .
Step 4.1.2.2.4
Cancel the common factor of .
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Step 4.1.2.2.4.1
Cancel the common factor.
Step 4.1.2.2.4.2
Rewrite the expression.
Step 4.1.2.2.5
Evaluate the exponent.
Step 4.1.2.3
Raise to the power of .
Step 4.1.2.4
Cancel the common factor of and .
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Step 4.1.2.4.1
Factor out of .
Step 4.1.2.4.2
Cancel the common factors.
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Step 4.1.2.4.2.1
Factor out of .
Step 4.1.2.4.2.2
Cancel the common factor.
Step 4.1.2.4.2.3
Rewrite the expression.
Step 4.1.2.5
Rewrite the expression using the negative exponent rule .
Step 4.1.2.6
The final answer is .
Step 4.2
The point found by substituting in is . This point can be an inflection point.
Step 4.3
Substitute in to find the value of .
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Step 4.3.1
Replace the variable with in the expression.
Step 4.3.2
Simplify the result.
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Step 4.3.2.1
Use the power rule to distribute the exponent.
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Step 4.3.2.1.1
Apply the product rule to .
Step 4.3.2.1.2
Apply the product rule to .
Step 4.3.2.2
Multiply by by adding the exponents.
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Step 4.3.2.2.1
Move .
Step 4.3.2.2.2
Multiply by .
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Step 4.3.2.2.2.1
Raise to the power of .
Step 4.3.2.2.2.2
Use the power rule to combine exponents.
Step 4.3.2.2.3
Add and .
Step 4.3.2.3
Raise to the power of .
Step 4.3.2.4
Rewrite as .
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Step 4.3.2.4.1
Use to rewrite as .
Step 4.3.2.4.2
Apply the power rule and multiply exponents, .
Step 4.3.2.4.3
Combine and .
Step 4.3.2.4.4
Cancel the common factor of .
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Step 4.3.2.4.4.1
Cancel the common factor.
Step 4.3.2.4.4.2
Rewrite the expression.
Step 4.3.2.4.5
Evaluate the exponent.
Step 4.3.2.5
Raise to the power of .
Step 4.3.2.6
Cancel the common factor of and .
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Step 4.3.2.6.1
Factor out of .
Step 4.3.2.6.2
Cancel the common factors.
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Step 4.3.2.6.2.1
Factor out of .
Step 4.3.2.6.2.2
Cancel the common factor.
Step 4.3.2.6.2.3
Rewrite the expression.
Step 4.3.2.7
Rewrite the expression using the negative exponent rule .
Step 4.3.2.8
The final answer is .
Step 4.4
The point found by substituting in is . This point can be an inflection point.
Step 4.5
Determine the points that could be inflection points.
Step 5
Split into intervals around the points that could potentially be inflection points.
Step 6
Substitute a value from the interval into the second derivative to determine if it is increasing or decreasing.
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Step 6.1
Replace the variable with in the expression.
Step 6.2
Simplify the result.
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Step 6.2.1
Simplify each term.
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Step 6.2.1.1
Raise to the power of .
Step 6.2.1.2
Multiply by .
Step 6.2.1.3
Raise to the power of .
Step 6.2.1.4
Multiply by .
Step 6.2.1.5
Rewrite the expression using the negative exponent rule .
Step 6.2.1.6
Combine and .
Step 6.2.1.7
Replace with an approximation.
Step 6.2.1.8
Raise to the power of .
Step 6.2.1.9
Divide by .
Step 6.2.1.10
Raise to the power of .
Step 6.2.1.11
Multiply by .
Step 6.2.1.12
Rewrite the expression using the negative exponent rule .
Step 6.2.1.13
Combine and .
Step 6.2.1.14
Move the negative in front of the fraction.
Step 6.2.2
Subtract from .
Step 6.2.3
The final answer is .
Step 6.3
At , the second derivative is . Since this is positive, the second derivative is increasing on the interval .
Increasing on since
Increasing on since
Step 7
Substitute a value from the interval into the second derivative to determine if it is increasing or decreasing.
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Step 7.1
Replace the variable with in the expression.
Step 7.2
Simplify the result.
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Step 7.2.1
Simplify each term.
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Step 7.2.1.1
Raising to any positive power yields .
Step 7.2.1.2
Multiply by .
Step 7.2.1.3
Raising to any positive power yields .
Step 7.2.1.4
Multiply by .
Step 7.2.1.5
Anything raised to is .
Step 7.2.1.6
Multiply by .
Step 7.2.1.7
Raising to any positive power yields .
Step 7.2.1.8
Multiply by .
Step 7.2.1.9
Anything raised to is .
Step 7.2.1.10
Multiply by .
Step 7.2.2
Subtract from .
Step 7.2.3
The final answer is .
Step 7.3
At , the second derivative is . Since this is negative, the second derivative is decreasing on the interval
Decreasing on since
Decreasing on since
Step 8
Substitute a value from the interval into the second derivative to determine if it is increasing or decreasing.
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Step 8.1
Replace the variable with in the expression.
Step 8.2
Simplify the result.
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Step 8.2.1
Simplify each term.
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Step 8.2.1.1
Raise to the power of .
Step 8.2.1.2
Multiply by .
Step 8.2.1.3
Raise to the power of .
Step 8.2.1.4
Multiply by .
Step 8.2.1.5
Rewrite the expression using the negative exponent rule .
Step 8.2.1.6
Combine and .
Step 8.2.1.7
Replace with an approximation.
Step 8.2.1.8
Raise to the power of .
Step 8.2.1.9
Divide by .
Step 8.2.1.10
Raise to the power of .
Step 8.2.1.11
Multiply by .
Step 8.2.1.12
Rewrite the expression using the negative exponent rule .
Step 8.2.1.13
Combine and .
Step 8.2.1.14
Move the negative in front of the fraction.
Step 8.2.2
Subtract from .
Step 8.2.3
The final answer is .
Step 8.3
At , the second derivative is . Since this is positive, the second derivative is increasing on the interval .
Increasing on since
Increasing on since
Step 9
An inflection point is a point on a curve at which the concavity changes sign from plus to minus or from minus to plus. The inflection points in this case are .
Step 10