Bytelearn - cat image with glassesAI tutor

Welcome to Bytelearn!

Let’s check out your problem:

Find all critical points of the function \newlinef(x)=x14x15.f(x)=x^{-14}-x^{-15}.\newline(Use symbolic notation and fractions where needed. Give your answer in the form of comma separated list. If the function does not have any critical points, enter DNE.)

Full solution

Q. Find all critical points of the function \newlinef(x)=x14x15.f(x)=x^{-14}-x^{-15}.\newline(Use symbolic notation and fractions where needed. Give your answer in the form of comma separated list. If the function does not have any critical points, enter DNE.)
  1. Find Derivative: To find the critical points of the function, we need to find the points where the derivative of the function is either zero or undefined.\newlineLet's find the derivative of f(x)=x14x15f(x) = x^{-14} - x^{-15}.\newlineUsing the power rule for derivatives, the derivative of xnx^n is nx(n1)n\cdot x^{(n-1)}, we get:\newlinef(x)=14x15+15x16f'(x) = -14\cdot x^{-15} + 15\cdot x^{-16}.
  2. Find Critical Points: Now, we need to find the values of xx for which f(x)=0f'(x) = 0 or where f(x)f'(x) is undefined.\newlineSetting f(x)f'(x) to zero gives us the equation:\newline14x15+15x16=0-14x^{-15} + 15x^{-16} = 0.
  3. Solve Derivative Equation: To solve this equation, we can multiply through by x16x^{16} to avoid dealing with negative exponents:\newline14x+15=0-14x + 15 = 0.
  4. Solve for x: Solving for x, we get:\newlinex=1514x = \frac{15}{14}.
  5. Check for Undefined Derivative: We also need to check where the derivative is undefined. The derivative will be undefined when x=0x = 0, since we cannot divide by zero. However, x=0x = 0 is not in the domain of the original function f(x)=x14x15f(x) = x^{-14} - x^{-15}, because we cannot raise 00 to a negative exponent.
  6. Final Critical Point: Therefore, the only critical point of the function is x=1514x = \frac{15}{14}.

More problems from Conjugate root theorems