Computer Science Canada

Need Help for Math
Author:  Piro24 [ Wed Nov 08, 2006 10:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Need Help for Math
Ok, here is the unifinished code...

code:
var x, y : int
x := -3
loop
    y := x ** 2
    put y
    x += 1
    delay (1200)
    exit when x > 3
end loop


This program is very simple...It's a simple parabola.

What I want to do is output the minimum. So output the value of x when y is at a minimum (in this case it would be when x = 0, y is at a minimum)...Of course there are several ways you could cheat, but I want to find a way that would work for any parabola or function. I'm stumped with this question. It's probablly very simple, but I'm just over thinking because I got frustrated...
Author:  TheFerret [ Wed Nov 08, 2006 10:17 pm ]
Post subject: 
I'll give you the way that you have to learn before using, find the derivative of the function and then set that equal to 0 and then solve for x, in your case y'=2x, 0=2x, x=0 therefor, y = 0

For a fuction such as y=4x^3 + 3x^2 - 2x + 1, y' = 12x^2 + 6x - 2, set it to 0 to get x to be 0.22 or -0.73... Wikipedia will help you with this...

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