9. inflection points and curvature

To study the curvature of a function, you have to find the intervals in which the function is concave up or concave down as in the picture:





An inflection point is a point on a curve at which the curvature or concavity changes.

 

 

 

 

Exercise: study the curvature and inflection points of this function:

 

 

 

 

 

Solution: concave up (-2.5,1)U(3,6), concave down (-6,-2.5)U(1,3), inflection points = {-2.5, 3}