Gradient difference 1

Calculus Level 4

What is the (local) maximum difference between the gradients of the functions f ( x ) = x 2 ( x 1 ) ( x + 3 ) f(x)=x^2(x-1)(x+3) and g ( x ) = 3 x 3 + 9 x 2 2 x + 6 g(x)=-3x^3+9x^2-2x+6 ? Round your answer to 1 decimal place.


The answer is 101.4.

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1 solution

Poca Poca
Jul 3, 2018

The derivatives are f ( x ) = 4 x 3 + 6 x 2 6 x f'(x)=4x^3+6x^2-6x and g ( x ) = 9 x 2 + 18 x 2 g'(x)=-9x^2+18x-2 . Let h ( x ) = f ( x ) g ( x ) = 4 x 3 + 15 x 2 24 x + 2 h(x)=f'(x)-g'(x)=4x^3+15x^2-24x+2 . To maximize h ( x ) h(x) , we need to consider h ( x ) = 0 h'(x)=0 . The derivative of h h is h ( x ) = 12 x 2 + 30 x 24 h'(x)=12x^2+30x-24 . Solving h ( x ) = 0 h'(x)=0 yields two solutions: x 1 3.1375 x_1 \approx -3.1375 and x 2 0.63746 x_2 \approx 0.63746 . Furthermore, we have h ( x ) = 24 x + 30 h''(x)=24x+30 so that h ( x 1 ) < 0 h''(x_1)<0 , which means that h h is maximal at x 1 x_1 . Hence, the value that we are looking for is h ( x 1 ) 101.4 h(x_1) \approx 101.4 .

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