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Course: Integrated math 3 > Unit 1
Lesson 2: Average rate of change of polynomialsSign of average rate of change of polynomials
Discover how to find the average rate of change in polynomials. Learn to identify intervals with positive average rates of change by comparing function values at different points. See how this concept applies to real-life situations, making math fun and practical!
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- I'm confused what it means when it Sal says that it should be
h(xf) > h(xi)
when all the answers are in aa ≤ x ≤ b
format.
Also I'm not sure if Sal went over this in the video, but does having a negative number ina
ina ≤ x ≤ b
spot and a 0 or higher in theb
spot mean it will be positive?(32 votes)- The
h(xf) > h(xi)
is referring toa ≤ x ≤ b
, whereh(xf)
isb
andh(xi)
is a.
Basically it is saying that in this situation for an answer to be correct, the output ofh(b)
has to be bigger thanh(a)
to warrant a positive change. If you were looking for a negative change it would be the other way around.
To answer your second question that might not always be the case.
Say you havef(x) = -1x^2
If the interval is-1 ≤ x ≤ 1
then:f(-1) = -1
andf(1) = -1
, making it not positive(40 votes)
- I don't understand any of this. I've watched the video numerous times and it still doesn't make sense. Can someone please help me?(27 votes)
- for the first What he is saying is that H is our function and what we do is multiply by our integer, which is 0, so we substitute x for zero, so the start function is = to zero. He does the same thing for the next integer, which is 2 and gets -3. That is a negative decline, so the interval has a negative average rate.(5 votes)
- hi, how is this relevant(8 votes)
- it helps you solve the answer to life(32 votes)
- my head is exploding am not understanding anything(11 votes)
- don't worry bro I'm goin straight from algebra to algebra two and I can barely grasp this concept(9 votes)
- I'm not understanding the sign of interval change problem
problem A.) for example
h(x)=1/8 x^3-x^2
how did h(0)=0, h(2)=-3(11 votes)- h(x) takes the place of y on an x-y plane, so when we're taking h(0), we're looking at the line the function makes and seeing what the number on the vertical axis is when the number on the horizontal axis is 0. In the equation, we're seeing what y (which is h(x)) is when x is 0. So we replace all the x's in the equation with 0, and then solve it. 0 · 1/8 is 0, and 0 to any exponent is also 0. So it ends up as 0 · 0, which is 0.(6 votes)
- you lost me 44 secs into this video(12 votes)
- Just wondering... is there a faster way to do this than to go over all of the multiple choice options?(7 votes)
- Not really, it's kind of like guess and check in a way you have to go through each one individually(9 votes)
- How do you know which x value is the x final, and which x value is the x initial?(9 votes)
- i have a mid-term coming up and i have average rate of change on it and im definitely gonna fail because i dont get this at all. does anyone know a different video i can watch to understand better?(6 votes)
- you should look around for that on youtube using average rate of change as the search.(6 votes)
- When he is explaining problem C, 6^3 is 180. Where did he get the add 36 to get 216? Maybe I just missed it, but I am confused(5 votes)
- 6^3 is actually 216. When he says that 36 * 6 = (180 + 36) = 216, Sal is just breaking down the multiplication into parts that you could do mentally.(7 votes)
Video transcript
- [Instructor] So we are
given this function h of x, and we're asked, over which interval does h have a positive
average rate of change? So like always, pause this
video and have a go at it before we do this together. All right, now let's work
through this together. And to start, let's just remind ourselves what an average rate of change even is. You can view it as, the change
in your value of the function for a given change in
the underlying variable for a given change in x. We could also view this as, if we wanna figure out the interval, we could say our x final
minus our x initial, and in the numerator, it would
be the value of our function at the x final, minus
the value of the function at our x initial. Now they aren't asking
us to calculate this for all of these different intervals. They're just asking us
whether it is positive. And if you look over here, as long as our x final is
greater than x initial, in order to have a positive
average rate of change, we just need to figure
out whether h at x final is greater than h at x initial. If the value of the function
at the higher endpoint is larger than the value of the function at the lower endpoint, then we have a positive
average rate of change. So let's see if that's happening
for any of these choices. So let's see, h of zero, this endpoint, is going
to be equal to zero. If I just say 1/8 times zero minus zero, and h of two is equal to 1/8 times two to the third power is eight. So 1/8 times eight is one minus four. So that's going to be,
this is negative three. And so we don't have a situation where h at our higher
endpoint is actually larger. This is a negative average rate of change. So I'll rule this one out. And actually just to
help us visualize this, I did go to Desmos and
graph this function. And we can visually see that we have a negative average rate of change from x equals zero to x equals two. At x equals zero, this
is where our function is, at x equals two, this is
where our function is, and so you can see, at x equals two, our function has a lower value. You could also think of
the average rate of change as the slope of the line that connects the two
endpoints on the function. And so you can see it
has a negative slope, so we have a negative
average rate of change between those two points. Now what about between these two? So h of zero, we already
calculated as zero, and what is h of eight? Well, let's see that's 1/8 times eight to the third power. Well, if I do eight to third power, but then divide by eight,
that's the same thing as eight to the second power. So that's going to be 64 minus eight to the second power minus 64, so that's equal to zero. So here we have a zero
average rate of change 'cause this numerator's going to be zero, so we can rule that out. And you see it right over here. When x is equal to zero,
our function is there, when x is equal to eight,
our function is there, and you can see that the slope of the line that connects those two points is zero. So you have zero average rate of change between those two points. Now what about choice C? So let's see, h of six is going to be equal to 1/8 times six to the third power. So let's see, 36 times six is 180 plus 36, so that is going to be 216. 216 minus 36, 216 is six times six times six, and then if we divide that by eight, that is going to be the same thing as, this is 36, and then we have 6/8 of 36. So this is going to simplify to 3/4 times 36 minus 36, which is going to be
equal to negative nine. You could have done it with a calculator or done some long division, but hopefully what I just
did makes some sense. It's a little bit of arithmetic. And so, at h of six, we have
our function is negative nine, and then h of eight, I'll draw a line here so we don't make it too messy, h of eight we already
know is equal to zero. So our function at this endpoint is higher than the value of our
function at this endpoint. So we do have a positive
average rate of change. So I would pick that
choice right over there. And you could see it visually. h of six, when x is equal to six, our value of our function
is negative nine. And when x is equal to eight, our value of our function is zero. And so, the line that
connects those two points definitely has a positive slope. So we have a positive
average rate of change over that interval. Now, if we were just
doing this on our own, we'd be done, but we could just check this one right over here. If we compare h of zero,
we already know is zero, and h of six, we already know
is equal to negative nine. So this is a negative
average rate of change because at the higher
endpoint right over here, we have a lower value of our function, so we'd rule this out. And you see it right over here, if you go from x equals
zero where the function is to x equals six where the function is, it looks something, it looks something like that. Clearly that line has a negative slope. So we have a negative
average rate of change.