How do you find the critical points for y=x^4-3x^3+5?

1 Answer
Jan 11, 2017

(0,5) and
(2.25,-3.54) (2dp)

Explanation:

y = x^4 - 3x^3 + 5

Differentiating wrt x gives:

dy/dx = 4x^3 - 9x^2

At a critical point, dy/dx=0

=> x^2(4x - 9) = 0
:. x=0,9/4

When;

x=0 => y=5
x=2.25 => y~~-3.54

So there are two critical points:

(0,5) and (2.25,-3.54) (2dp)

We we can see on the graph:
graph{y = x^4 - 3x^3 + 5 [-2, 5, -5.81, 9.99]}