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/5/a/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 5 a iii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
Near zero, has the sign of , so just to the left and just to the right. Thus the critical point is neither a local minimum nor a local maximum. Moreover the Taylor series gives , which changes sign at zero. ThereforeThis is the point called a “saddle point” in the question; stationary inflection point specifies the one-variable meaning.
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