How do you use the first and second derivatives to sketch y=e^x/xy=exx?

1 Answer
Oct 13, 2016

graph{(e^x)/x [-22, 18, -9.88, 10.12]}

Explanation:

y=e^x/x y=exx

to sketch the graph, we need to examine various behaviour of the function

roots:
y =0 => e^x/x=0 y=0exx=0
:. e^x=0
But as e^x>0 AA x in RR => no roots

behaviour as x->+-oo
As x->-oo=>y->e^-oo/-oo->0^-
As x->oo=>y->e^oo/oo->oo

asymptotes

denominator=0 => x=0
so a vertical asymptote when x=0

turning (or critical points)
y=e^x/x, so differentiating wrt x using the quotient rule
d/dx(u/v)=(v(du)/dx - u(dv)/dx)/v^2
gives:
dy/dx = (xd/dx(e^x)-e^xd/dx(x))/x^2
= (xe^x-e^x)/x^2
= ((x-1)e^x)/x^2

At a critical point dy/dx=0 => ((x-1)e^x)/x^2 = 0
:. (x-1)e^x=0

:. e^x=0 (no solutions); or x-1=0=>x=1

When x=1 => y=e^1/1=e (or ~~2.7 )
so there is a critical point at (1,e)

Nature of the critical points:
We need to look at the second derivative;
we can rearrange
dy/dx = ((x-1)e^x)/x^2 as
dy/dx = e^x/x-e^e/x^2
we already know the derivative of e^x/x (it is the above); so we must use the quotient rule again to find the derivative of e^x/x^2

so we get
(d^2y)/dx^2 = ((x-1)e^x)/x^2-d/dx(e^x/x^2)
:. (d^2y)/dx^2 = ((x-1)e^x)/x^2 - {(x^2d/dx(e^x) - e^xd/dx(x^2))/(x^2)^2}
:. (d^2y)/dx^2 = ((x-1)e^x)/x^2 - {(x^2e^x - 2xe^x)/(x^4)}

That's quite a complex expression, so lets not even bother trying to simplify any more as we increase the chance of making a mistake; just substitute x=1 to determine the nature of the turning point;

x=1 => (d^2y)/dx^2 = 0 - {(e^1 - 2e^1)/(1}}=e>0 => minimum

Sketching the graph:
We now have enough to sketch the graph which actually looks like this;
graph{(e^x)/x [-22, 18, -9.88, 10.12]}