The only point of inflection on the curve representing the equation $$y=x^3+2x^2-10$$ is at:

1 Answer

DEMETRIOS LAMBROPOULOS

Updated on December 31st, 2020

Inflection points on a curve are points on the curve where the concavity changes. To find the inflection points of a curve we must find the points where the second derivative of the equation is equal to zero, y''=0.

We start by finding the first derivative y' as follows:

y' = d dx(x3 + 2x2 - 10) 

Remembering that the derivative of a constant is 0 and that the derivative a variable to the nth power is d dxxn=nxn-1.

y' = 3x2 + 4x

Now that we have the first derivative, we can start finding y'' as follows:

y'' = d dx(3x2 + 4x)       = 6x +4

Setting y'' = 0 we find the inflection point as follows:

0 = 6x + 4  -4 = 6x  x = -46=-23

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