How do you find points of inflection and determine the intervals of concavity given #y=x^2-x-1#?
1 Answer
No inflection points exist, function is convex (aka concave up) for all x.
Explanation:
If we use a graph, the concavity change and inflection points will be self evident. A function is concave up (aka convex) on the interval (a,b) if a line segment passing through both a and b lies above the function ; the function is concave downwards when the function instead lies above the segment.
graph{x^2-x-1 [-10, 10, -5, 5]}
Here we see the function is always concave upwards. Since this is true, there is no inflection point; for an inflection point to exist, the concavity must change. If there is no change in concavity, there is no inflection point.
We can prove this in a non graphical manner as well. Our function is