How do you find a local maximum? What about a local min? (I always get confused with these two)

Question

anonymous · Answer

Max and mins are indicated by the sign of the derivative.  That is, when a derivative changes from negative to positive, you have a local minimum.  When it changes from positive to negative, you have a local maximum.

anonymous · Answer

It helps to draw a graph also, try sketching a graph of a few examples (just the basic shape, and approximately where the axis will be), then add on the sketch the co-ordinates of the max + mins, you should start to see a pattern.