After completing this section, students should be able to do the following.

  • Identify the relationships between the function and its first and second derivatives.
  • Sketch a graph of the second derivative, given the original function.
  • Sketch a graph of the original function, given the graph of its first and second derivatives.
  • Sketch a graph of a function satisfying certain constraints on its higher-order derivatives.
  • State the relationship between concavity and the second derivative.
  • State the Second Derivative Test.
  • Apply the Second Derivative Test.
  • Define inflection points.
  • Find inflection points.