f(x) = -2/9x^3 -2/3x^2+16/3x+160/9f(x)=−29x3−23x2+163x+1609
First, let's clean the expression up by factoring out -2/9−29.
f(x) = -2/9(x^3 + 3x^2 - 24x - 80)f(x)=−29(x3+3x2−24x−80).
Now, we'll find the critical numbers by finding the numbers in the domain at which the derivative is 00 or fails to exist.
The domain of ff is all real numbers.
f'(x) = -2/9(3x^2+6x-24).
The derivative exists for all real x, so now we need to solve f'(x)=0 to find the critical numbers.
-2/9(3x^2+6x-24)=0 is equivalent to
-2/3(x^2+2x-8)=0
-2/3(x+4)(x-2) = 0
x=-4 " " or " " x=2.
These are the critical numbers for f. They determine three intervals on the number line.
We look at the sign of f' on each interval to determine whether f is increasing or decreasing on the interval
{: (bb "Interval", bb"Sign of "f',bb" Incr/Decr"),
((-oo,-4)," " -" ", " "" Decr"),
((-4,2), " " +, " " " Incr"),
((2 ,oo), " " -, " "" Decr")
:}
f has a local minimum of 0 at -4, and
f has a local maximum of 24 at 2.
Calculations
f(-4) = -2/9[(-4)^3+3(-4)^2-24(-4)-80]
= -2/9[-4(16)+3(16)+6(16)-5(16)]
= -2/9[0(16)] = 0
and
f(2) = -2/9[(2)^3+3(2)^2-24(2)-80]
= -2/9[2(4)+3(4)-12(4)-20(4)]
= -2/9[-27(4)] = (2cancel((27))^3(4))/cancel(9) = 24