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The stationary points are the red circles. In this graph, they are all relative maxima or relative minima. The blue squares are inflection points.. In mathematics, particularly in calculus, a stationary point of a differentiable function of one variable is a point on the graph of the function where the function's derivative is zero.
Notice how, for a differentiable function, critical point is the same as stationary point. Although it is easily visualized on the graph (which is a curve), the notion of critical point of a function must not be confused with the notion of critical point, in some direction, of a curve (see below for a detailed definition).
Fermat's theorem gives only a necessary condition for extreme function values, as some stationary points are inflection points (not a maximum or minimum). The function's second derivative, if it exists, can sometimes be used to determine whether a stationary point is a maximum or minimum.
A point where the second derivative vanishes but does not change its sign is sometimes called a point of undulation or undulation point. In algebraic geometry an inflection point is defined slightly more generally, as a regular point where the tangent meets the curve to order at least 3, and an undulation point or hyperflex is defined as a ...
In calculus, Rolle's theorem or Rolle's lemma essentially states that any real-valued differentiable function that attains equal values at two distinct points must have at least one point, somewhere between them, at which the slope of the tangent line is zero. Such a point is known as a stationary point. It is a point at which the first ...
The second derivative test can still be used to analyse critical points by considering the eigenvalues of the Hessian matrix of second partial derivatives of the function at the critical point. If all of the eigenvalues are positive, then the point is a local minimum; if all are negative, it is a local maximum.
In calculus, a derivative test uses the derivatives of a function to locate the critical points of a function and determine whether each point is a local maximum, a local minimum, or a saddle point. Derivative tests can also give information about the concavity of a function.
(2nd derivative is 0 at that point.) Unique global maximum at x = e. (See figure at right) x −x: Unique global maximum over the positive real numbers at x = 1/e. x 3 /3 − x: First derivative x 2 − 1 and second derivative 2x. Setting the first derivative to 0 and solving for x gives stationary points at −1 and +1. From the sign of the ...