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Mathematics 15 Online
OpenStudy (anonymous):

Can someone help me with factoring after I derive a function? I need to get the point of inflection so, the second derivative. f(x)=x(x-4)^3 I got this far: f'(x)=x(3)(x-4)^2+(x-4)^3 =3x(x^2-8x+16)+(x^2-8x+16)(x-4) =3x^3-24x^2+48x)+(x^3-12x^2+48x-64 =4x^3-36x^2+96x-64 =4(x^3-9x^2+24x-16) This is where I get stuck... I mean, if you know an easier way?..

zepdrix (zepdrix):

Woops! After "I got this far:" the second step after that, bad bad bad. Don't expand out those terms :O messy messy! :O Notice they both some amount of (x-4)'s? Factor out the largest power that they each share. (Looks like it's (x-4)^2 in this case).

zepdrix (zepdrix):

|dw:1351899845811:dw| From here you have a couple of nice easy critical points you can find. Understand what happened there? :D

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