Question

y=2x^3-5x^2-3x
how many turns are there

Answers

GPT-4o mini
To determine the number of turns or local extrema of the polynomial function \( y = 2x^3 - 5x^2 - 3x \), we need to find the critical points by taking the derivative and setting it equal to zero.

1. **Calculate the first derivative**:

\[
y' = \frac{d}{dx}(2x^3 - 5x^2 - 3x) = 6x^2 - 10x - 3
\]

2. **Set the first derivative to zero to find critical points**:

\[
6x^2 - 10x - 3 = 0
\]

3. **Use the quadratic formula to solve for \( x \)**:

The quadratic formula is given by:

\[
x = \frac{-b \pm \sqrt{b^2 - 4ac}}{2a}
\]

Where \( a = 6 \), \( b = -10 \), and \( c = -3 \).

Calculating the discriminant:

\[
b^2 - 4ac = (-10)^2 - 4 \cdot 6 \cdot (-3) = 100 + 72 = 172
\]

Since the discriminant is positive, there will be two distinct real solutions for \( x \).

4. **Finding the number of turns**:

Since there are two distinct critical points, the polynomial will have two local extrema (turns).

Thus, the function \( y = 2x^3 - 5x^2 - 3x \) has **two turns**.