4.1Extreme Values of Functions.ppt

* 4.1 Extreme Values of Functions Greg Kelly, Hanford High School, Richland, Washington Borax Mine, Boron, CA Photo by Vickie Kelly, 2004 4.1 Extreme Values of Functions Greg Kelly, Hanford High School, Richland, Washington Borax Plant, Boron, CA Photo by Vickie Kelly, 2004 The textbook gives the following example at the start of chapter 4: The mileage of a certain car can be approximated by: At what speed should you drive the car to obtain the best gas mileage? Of course, this problem isn’t entirely realistic, since it is unlikely that you would have an equation like this for your car. We could solve the problem graphically: We could solve the problem graphically: On the TI-89, we use F5 (math), 4: Maximum, choose lower and upper bounds, and the calculator finds our answer. We could solve the problem graphically: On the TI-89, we use F5 (math), 4: Maximum, choose lower and upper bounds, and the calculator finds our answer. The car will get approximately 32 miles per gallon when driven at 38.6 miles per hour. Notice that at the top of the curve, the horizontal tangent has a slope of zero. Traditionally, this fact has been used both as an aid to graphing by hand and as a method to find maximum (and minimum) values of functions. Absolute extreme values are either maximum or minimum points on a curve. Even though the graphing calculator and the computer have eliminated the need to routinely use calculus to graph by hand and to find maximum and minimum values of functions, we still study the methods to increase our understanding of functions and the mathematics involved. They are sometimes called global extremes. They are also sometimes called absolute extrema. (Extrema is the plural of the Latin extremum.) Extreme values can be in the interior or the end points of a function. Absolute Minimum No Absolute Maximum Absolute Minimum Absolute Maximum No Minimum Absolute Maximum No Minimum No Maximum Extreme Value Theorem: If f is continuous over a closed interval, then