The Closed Interval Method (Introduction)

This applet was designed to help you intuitively (and informally) discover a very important concept in calculus. Definition: A CRITICAL NUMBER of a function f is any input value c in the domain of f for which either f'(c)=0 or f'(c) does not exist. Directions: There are graphs of 4 functions shown below. The names of these functions are c, h, f, and g. You should note there is a point plotted on each function. Move each of these points around to answer the following key question AND the questions that appear below this applet. KEY QUESTION: Find all critical numbers of each function whose graph is given below.