Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

Finding extrema / critical numbers?

Given: f(x) = x^3 - 3x^2 - 9x + 20

Find the local maximum point on the closed interval [-3, 5]

So f'(x) = 3x^2 - 6x - 9

f'(x) = 0 at x = 3 and x = -1

How do i find the maximum/minimums?

1 Answer

Relevance
  • ?
    Lv 7
    6 years ago

    Plug in x = 3, -1, -3 and 5 into the original function. The maximums and minimums can only occur at the endpoints and the critical points.

    f(-3) = -7

    f(-1) = 25

    f(3) = -7

    f(5) = 25

    This means that there are (relative/local) minimums at x = -3 and 3 and relative/local maximums at x = -1 and x = 5.

Still have questions? Get your answers by asking now.