Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-year-1-of-the-computer-science-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2015/discrete-mathematics-continuous-mathematics-and-probability-resit/6/b/iii/solution
Past exam of the year 1 of the computer science course of the University of Oxford 2015 Discrete mathematics, continuous mathematics, and probability (resit) 6 b iii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
At , , so the second-derivative test gives a strict local minimum. In fact is negative for and positive for except at , so is the global minimum as well.
At , the second-derivative test is inconclusive because . But changes from negative to positive across , while . Hence this is a stationary inflection point. Equivalently, the leading nonconstant term in the Taylor polynomial changes sign across . The paper explicitly uses “saddle point” to mean an inflection point, so in its terminology the classification isHere the “saddle point” is a one-dimensional stationary inflection point, rather than the usual multivariable use of saddle point of a scalar function.[ref]
Discrete mathematics, continuous mathematics, and probability resit examination by the University of Oxford (2015). Page 8, Question 6(b)(iii), explicit definition of “saddle point”
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