How many inflection points?

grapz

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The double derivative function is given as:

f'' ( x) = ( x - 1 ) ^3 ( x + 2 ) ( x^2 + 3x + 2 ) ( x ^ 64 - 1 )

How many points of inflection does the graph of f have?

How do i go about doing this.
 
grapz said:
The double derivative function is given as:

\(\displaystyle f'' ( x) = ( x - 1 ) ^3 ( x + 2 ) ( x^2 + 3x + 2 ) ( x ^ {64} - 1 )\)

How many points of inflection does the graph of f have?

How do i go about doing this.

How are inflection points and values of f"(x) related?
 
Well, if the double derivative of f(x) changes sign than that means there is an inflection point.

That isn't the problem, , since there is like 10000000000000000 critical points, how do i find out wether the sign of f''(x) changes?

There must be a shortcut, but i can't see it.

thanks
 
There's not as many as you may think. The roots of \(\displaystyle x^{64}-1\) are all complex except for -1 and 1.
 

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Thanks for the reply.

I found out that this function has no inflection points
 
Exactly. Take a look at the graph.

At \(\displaystyle f''(1)=0, \;\ f''(-1)=0\), but they are not inflection points. f is concave up on \(\displaystyle (-\infty,\infty)\)

If \(\displaystyle f''(x)>0\) on an open interval, then f is concave up on (a,b)

If \(\displaystyle f''(x)<0\) on an open interval, then f is concave down on (a,b)
 
grapz said:
The double derivative function is given as:

\(\displaystyle f'' ( x) = ( x - 1 ) ^3 ( x + 2 ) ( x^2 + 3x + 2 ) ( x ^ {64} - 1 )\)

\(\displaystyle f'' ( x) = ( x - 1 )^4( x + 2 )^2(x + 1)^2 ( x ^ {32} + 1)( x ^ {16} + 1)( x ^ {8} + 1)( x ^ {4} + 1)( x ^ {2} + 1)\)

All the real roots are repeating and of even order - thus f"(x) does not change sign and no inflection point exists for the function in question.

How many points of inflection does the graph of f have?

How do i go about doing this.
 
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