Section 4.
1 Maximum and Minimum Values
2010 Kiryl Tsishchanka
Maximum and Minimum Values
DEFINITION: A function f has an absolute maximum (or global maximum) at c if f (c) f (x) for all x in D, where D is the domain of f. The number f (c) is called the maximum value of f on D. Similarly, f has an absolute minimum (or global minimum) at c if f (c) f (x) for all x in D and the number f (c) is called the minimum value of f on D. The maximum and minimum values of f are called the extreme values of f.
DEFINITION: A function f has a local maximum (or relative maximum) at c if f (c) f (x) when x is near c. [This means that f (c) f (x) for all x in some open interval containing c.] Similarly, f has a local minimum (or relative minimum) at c if f (c) f (x) when x is near c. EXAMPLES: 1. The function f (x) = x2 has an absolute (and local) minimum at x = 0 and has no absolute or local maximum. 2. The function f (x) = x2 , x (, 0) (0, ), has no absolute or local minimum and no absolute or local maximum.
3. The functions f (x) = x, x3 , x5 , etc. have no absolute or local minima and no absolute or local maxima.
f (x) = x2 , x (, 0) (0, )
Section 4.1 Maximum and Minimum Values
2010 Kiryl Tsishchanka
4. The functions f (x) = sin x, cos x, sec x, csc x have innitely many absolute (and local) maxima and minima.
5. The functions f (x) = tan x, cot x have no absolute or local minima and no absolute or local maxima.
Section 4.1 Maximum and Minimum Values
2010 Kiryl Tsishchanka
6. The function f (x) = x4 + x3 11 x2 9 x + 18 = (x 3)(x 1)(x + 2)(x + 3) has an absolute minimum at x 2.2 and has no absolute maximum. It has two local minima at x 2.6 and x 2.2 and a local maximum at x 0.4.
7. The function f (x) = x, 1 x 2, has an absolute minimum at x = 1 and absolute maximum at x = 2. It has no local maximum or minimum. 8. The function f (x) = x, 1 < x < 2, has no absolute or local minimum and no absolute or local maximum. 9. The function f (x) = x has no absolute or local minimum and no absolute or local maximum. 10. The function f (x) = 1 has an absolute (and local) minimum and absolute (and local) maximum at any point on the number line.
Section 4.1 Maximum and Minimum Values
2010 Kiryl Tsishchanka
THEOREM (The Extreme Value Theorem): If f is continuous on a closed interval [a, b], then f attains an absolute maximum value f (c) and an absolute minimum value f (d) at some numbers c and d in [a, b].
THEOREM (Fermats Theorem): If f has a local maximum or minimum at c, and if f (c) exists, then f (c) = 0.
REMARK 1: The converse of this theorem is not true. In other words, when f (c) = 0, f does not necessarily have a local maximum or minimum. For example, if f (x) = x3 , then f (x) = 3x2 equals 0 at x = 0, but x = 0 is not a point of a local minimum or maximum. REMARK 2: Sometimes f (c) does not exist, but x = c is a point of a local maximum or minimum. For example, if f (x) = |x|, then f (0) does not exist. But f (x) has its local (and absolute) minimum at x = 0.
Section 4.1 Maximum and Minimum Values
2010 Kiryl Tsishchanka
DEFINITION: A critical number of a function f is a number c in the domain of f such that either f (c) = 0 or f (c) does not exist. REMARK: From Fermats Theorem it follows that if f has a local maximum or minimum at c, then c is a critical number of f. EXAMPLES: 5 (a) If f (x) = 2x2 + 5x 1, then f (x) = 4x + 5. Hence the only critical number of f is x = . 4 2 2 3 (b) If f (x) = x2 , then f (x) = x1/3 = . Hence the only critical number of f is x = 0. 3 33x (c) If f (x) = 1 1 , then f (x) = 2 . Since x = 0 is not in the domain, f has no critical numbers. x x
EXAMPLES: (a) Find the critical numbers of f (x) = 2x3 9x2 + 12x 5.
3 (b) Find the critical numbers of f (x) = 2x + 3 x2 .
(c) Find the critical numbers of f (x) = x1/3 (2 x).
Section 4.1 Maximum and Minimum Values
2010 Kiryl Tsishchanka
EXAMPLES: (a) Find the critical numbers of f (x) = 2x3 9x2 + 12x 5. Solution: We have f (x) = 6x2 18x + 12 = 6(x2 3x + 2) = 6(x 1)(x 2) thus f (x) = 0 at x = 1 and x = 2. Since f (x) exists everywhere, x = 1 and x = 2 are the only critical numbers. 3 (b) Find the critical numbers of f (x) = 2x + 3 x2 . Solution: We have
23x 2 2/31 2 2 23x+2 2( 3 x + 1) 1/3 f (x) = 2 + 3 x = 2 + 2x =2+ = + = = 3 3 3 3 3 3 x x x x x
or
2( 3 x + 1) 2 2/31 1/3 1/3 1/3 = 2 + 2x = 2x (x + 1) = f (x) = 2 + 3 x 3 3 x It follows that f (x) equals 0 at x = 1 and does not exist at x = 0. Thus the critical numbers are 1 and 0. (c) Find the critical numbers of f (x) = x1/3 (2 x). Solution: We have 1 f (x) = [x1/3 (2 x)] = (x1/3 ) (2 x) + x1/3 (2 x) = x2/3 (2 x) + x1/3 (1) 3 = or 1 4 2 2(1 2x) f (x) = [x1/3 (2 x)] = (2x1/3 x4/3 ) = 2 x2/3 x1/3 = x2/3 (1 2x) = 3 3 3 3x2/3 1 It follows that f (x) equals 0 at x = and does not exist at x = 0. Thus the critical numbers 2 1 are and 0. 2 THE CLOSED INTERVAL METHOD: To nd the absolute maximum and minimum values of a continuous function f on a closed interval [a, b]: 1. Find the values of f at the critical numbers of f in (a, b). 2. Find the values of f at the endpoints of the interval. 3. The largest of the values from Step 1 and 2 is the absolute maximum value; the smallest value of these values is the absolute minimum value. EXAMPLE: Find the absolute maximum and minimum values of f (x) = 2x3 15x2 + 36x on the interval [1, 5] and determine where these values occur. 6 2x 2 x x1/3 3x2/3 2x 3x 2 x 3x 2 4x 2(1 2x) x1/3 = 2/3 = 2/3 2/3 = = = 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3 3x 3x 3x 3x 3x 3x 3x 3x2/3
Section 4.1 Maximum and Minimum Values
2010 Kiryl Tsishchanka
EXAMPLE: Find the absolute maximum and minimum values of f (x) = 2x3 15x2 + 36x on the interval [1, 5] and determine where these values occur. Solution: Step 1: Since f (x) = 6x2 30x + 36 = 6(x2 5x + 6) = 6(x 2)(x 3) there are 2 critical numbers x = 2 and x = 3. Step 2: We now evaluate f at these critical numbers and at the endpoints x = 1 and x = 5. We have f (1) = 23, f (2) = 28, f (3) = 27, f (5) = 55 Step 3: The largest value is 55 and the smallest value is 23. Therefore an absolute maximum of f on [1, 5] is 55, occurring at x = 5 and an absolute minimum of f on [1, 5] is 23, occurring at x = 1. EXAMPLES: (a) Find the absolute maximum and minimum values of f (x) = 2x3 15x2 + 24x + 2 on [0, 2] and determine where these values occur.
(b) Find the absolute maximum and minimum values of f (x) = 6x4/3 3x1/3 on the interval [1, 1] and determine where these values occur.
Section 4.1 Maximum and Minimum Values
2010 Kiryl Tsishchanka
EXAMPLES: (a) Find the absolute maximum and minimum values of f (x) = 2x3 15x2 + 24x + 2 on [0, 2] and determine where these values occur. Solution: Step 1: Since f (x) = 6x2 30x + 24 = 6(x2 5x + 4) = 6(x 4)(x 1) there are 2 critical numbers x = 1 and x = 4. Step 2: Since x = 4 is not from [0, 2], we evaluate f only at x = 1 and at the endpoints x = 0 and x = 2. We have f (0) = 2, f (1) = 13, f (2) = 6 Step 3: The largest value is 13 and the smallest value is 2. Therefore an absolute maximum of f on [0, 2] is 13, occurring at x = 1 and an absolute minimum of f on [0, 2] is 2, occurring at x = 0. (b) Find the absolute maximum and minimum values of f (x) = 6x4/3 3x1/3 on the interval [1, 1] and determine where these values occur. Solution: Step 1: Since f (x) = 8x1/3 x2/3 = x2/3 (8x 1) =
8x 1 x2/3
1 there are 2 critical numbers x = 0 and x = . 8 Step 2: We now evaluate f at these critical numbers and at the endpoints x = 1 and x = 1. We have 9 1 f (1) = 9, f (0) = 0, f = , f (1) = 3 8 8 9 Step 3: The largest value is 9 and the smallest value is . Therefore an absolute maximum 8 9 of f on [1, 1] is 9, occurring at x = 1 and an absolute minimum of f on [1, 1] is , 8 1 occurring at x = . 8
