MAT234 - Differential Equations
Please take a few minutes to review the following problem.
After you've reviewed it, see the two responses (a) and
(b) below which were generated from the work of former Calculus students.
Please give feedback to each student, communicating the following:
- whether their logic is correct/mostly correct or
incorrect/mostly incorrect;
- the strengths and weaknesses of their answer (if there are
any);
- whether the response is missing steps and/or could be better
explained; and
- specifically how the student should revise this answer.
Problem
Below is a graph of the derivative of the function
g.
How many solutions to the equation g(x) = 0 can there be on the interval [a, b]?
(a) There would be two solutions because it’s decreasing and
then increasing.
(b) I thought of g(x) as an upward parabola-like shape, and so g(x) can equal zero twice, once, or never.
This material was written by Jason Siefken.
