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If the second derivative of a function changes sign, the graph of the function will switch from concave down to concave up, or vice versa. A point where this occurs is called an inflection point. Assuming the second derivative is continuous, it must take a value of zero at any inflection point, although not every point where the second ...
The term convex is often referred to as convex down or concave upward, and the term concave is often referred as concave down or convex upward. [3] [4] [5] If the term "convex" is used without an "up" or "down" keyword, then it refers strictly to a cup shaped graph .
The sum of two concave functions is itself concave and so is the pointwise minimum of two concave functions, i.e. the set of concave functions on a given domain form a semifield. Near a strict local maximum in the interior of the domain of a function, the function must be concave; as a partial converse, if the derivative of a strictly concave ...
A related but distinct use of second derivatives is to determine whether a function is concave up or concave down at a point. It does not, however, provide information about inflection points . Specifically, a twice-differentiable function f is concave up if f ″ ( x ) > 0 {\displaystyle f''(x)>0} and concave down if f ″ ( x ) < 0 ...
For a function f, if its second derivative f″(x) exists at x 0 and x 0 is an inflection point for f, then f″(x 0) = 0, but this condition is not sufficient for having a point of inflection, even if derivatives of any order exist. In this case, one also needs the lowest-order (above the second) non-zero derivative to be of odd order (third ...
Linear approximations in this case are further improved when the second derivative of a, ″ (), is sufficiently small (close to zero) (i.e., at or near an inflection point). If f {\displaystyle f} is concave down in the interval between x {\displaystyle x} and a {\displaystyle a} , the approximation will be an overestimate (since the ...
Logarithmic differentiation is a technique which uses logarithms and its differentiation rules to simplify certain expressions before actually applying the derivative. [ citation needed ] Logarithms can be used to remove exponents, convert products into sums, and convert division into subtraction — each of which may lead to a simplified ...
Newton's method uses curvature information (i.e. the second derivative) to take a more direct route. In calculus , Newton's method (also called Newton–Raphson ) is an iterative method for finding the roots of a differentiable function f {\displaystyle f} , which are solutions to the equation f ( x ) = 0 {\displaystyle f(x)=0} .