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

  • Explain the Geometric interpretation of concavity.
  • Determine the values for which a function is concave up.
  • Determine the values for which a function is concave down.
  • Interpret the meaning of positive or negative values of the second derivative as it pertains to concavity.
  • Identify a point of inflection visually.
  • Give examples of points of inflection as they may occur in the real world.
  • Analytically find points of inflection using the second derivative.