Academic Skills Advice

Differentiation Refresher Sheet 2

Differentiation is about gradients on a curve.

Stationary Points:
You need to be able to find a stationary point on a curve and decide whether it is a turning
point (maximum or minimum) or a point of inflexion.

When

the gradient is zero and so you have a stationary point.

Maximum turning point

Point of inflexion
Minimum turning point

2nd Order Differentiation:

The 2nd differential measures the change in gradient and can help you decide whether a
stationary point is a maximum, minimum or point of inflexion. To find the 2nd differential
you need to differentiate again.

If

and

>0

then you have a minimum (positive is minimum).

If

and

<0

then you have a maximum (negative is maximum).

If

and

=0

then it could be maximum, minimum or point of inflexion.

In the last case differentiate again:

If

then it is a point of inflexion.

Otherwise (or as an alternative to the above) you need to find the gradient at either side of
the stationary point to decide whether it is a maximum or minimum.

H Jackson 2008 / Academic Skills

Examples:

Find the stationary point on the curve

(we need to put this equal to zero to find the stationary point)
=0
= 4
(we know that the stationary point is at
Next find the value of

.)

when

So the stationary point is at (2, -2)

Next decide whether the stationary point is a maximum, minimum or point of inflexion:
=2

This is positive (>0) so the turning point must be a minimum.

Find the stationary points on the curve

( )
3
3 (

( )

(we need to put this equal to zero to find the stationary point)
=0
)
(we know that the stationary points are at

Next find the

.)

values:
stationary point is at (0,4)
stationary point is at (2,0)

Next decide whether the stationary points are maximum, minimum or point of inflexion:
( )
When
When

( )
( )

(maximum)
(minimum)

Find the stationary point on the curve

Stationary point is at (0, 0)

This is 0 when

= 0 so could be a max, min or point of inflexion.

Differentiate again to decide:

The 3rd differential is not 0 so it is a point of inflexion.

H Jackson 2008 / Academic Skills

Practice Questions:
Find the stationary points and determine whether they are maximum, minimum or points of
inflexion for the following curves:
1)

2)

3)

4)

( )

(Hint: factorise)

5)

6)

( )

7)

8)

( )

9)

Challenge Activity:
10) Write 3 equations for curves of your own choice. Make sure that one curve has a
maximum, one has both a maximum and a minimum and one has a point of inflexion
and prove each one.

H Jackson 2008 / Academic Skills