Question

What is the maximum number of turns for the graph of f(x)=x^4+3x^2?

Answer 1

Answer:

The turns of a graph is represented by the number of maximum or minimum that the function has.

If we differenciate f(x) we get:

f'(x)=4x^3+6x

f'(x)=2x(2x^2 + 3)

Therefore f'(x) =0, when x=0. Given that negative roots are not defined.

Therefore, the number of turns will be given by the number of solutions of f'(x) which is 1.

Attached you find the graph of the function which confirms the number of turns.

If the function had other solutions, the maximum number of turns it could have is 3! because f'(x) is a third degree polynomial, therefore it can't have more than 3 solutions!