Characterization of relative extrema in terms of an explicit δ-neighborhood.
For f : ℝ → ℝ, S ⊆ ℝ, and c ∈ S:
f has a relative maximum at c on S (IsLocalMaxOn f S c) iff there exists δ > 0
such that for all x ∈ S with |x - c| < δ, f x ≤ f c; and analogously, f has a
relative minimum at c on S iff there exists δ > 0 such that for all x ∈ S with
|x - c| < δ, f c ≤ f x.
Fermat's interior extremum theorem: if f : ℝ → ℝ attains a (global) local maximum or
local minimum at an interior point c, and f is differentiable at c, then the derivative
of f at c vanishes, i.e. deriv f c = 0.
Rolle's theorem: if f : ℝ → ℝ is continuous on the closed interval [a, b],
differentiable at every point of the open interval (a, b), and satisfies f a = f b,
then there exists some c ∈ (a, b) at which the derivative vanishes, i.e. deriv f c = 0.
The Mean Value Theorem: if f : ℝ → ℝ is continuous on [a, b] and differentiable at
every point of (a, b), then there exists some c ∈ (a, b) such that
f b - f a = deriv f c * (b - a).
Zero derivative implies constant: if f : ℝ → ℝ is differentiable on a convex set
I ⊆ ℝ (i.e. an interval) and deriv f x = 0 for every x ∈ I, then f is constant on
I, i.e. f x = f y for all x, y ∈ I.
Monotonicity characterized by the sign of the derivative on an interval.
If f : ℝ → ℝ is continuous on [a, b] and differentiable at every point of (a, b), then:
(1) f is monotonically increasing on [a, b] iff 0 ≤ deriv f x for all x ∈ (a, b);
(2) f is monotonically decreasing on [a, b] iff deriv f x ≤ 0 for all x ∈ (a, b).