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Exercise 10.1 · Q5

Q.The graph of ff is shown below (Fig. 10.24). State with reasons the xx values (the numbers) at which ff is not differentiable. Graph description: just left of x=0x=0 the curve dips into a sharp V-shaped cusp with its point near x≈−0.5x\approx-0.5 before rising back up through the origin; it continues rising smoothly and ends at a filled point a little above x=4x=4; directly below that filled point, at the same x=4x=4, an open circle marks the start of a new branch — a jump discontinuity; that branch rises to a sharp peaked corner exactly at x=8x=8, dips slightly, rises again to a small rounded shoulder near x=10x=10, then falls almost vertically between x≈10.5x\approx10.5 and x=11x=11 before continuing as a gently declining curve out to x=12,14x=12,14.

Tamil Nadu State Board (Samacheer Kalvi) Class 11 Mathematics differentiability graph of f showing the x-values where f is not differentiable: a cusp at x = 0, a jump discontinuity at x = 4, a sharp corner at x = 8 and a vertical tangent at x = 11.
Figure
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Step 1. A function fails to be differentiable at a point exactly when the graph shows (a) a discontinuity there, (b) a corner/cusp (the left- and right-hand tangent directions disagree), or (c) a vertical tangent (the slope is unbounded). Scan the graph for each of these features.

Step 2. x=0x=0: the curve comes to a sharp, pointed V-shaped cusp right around the origin (dipping to a point near x≈−0.5x\approx-0.5 then rising back through x=0x=0) — the tangent direction changes abruptly rather than turning smoothly, so the two one-sided derivatives at x=0x=0 disagree. Not differentiable at x=0x=0.

Step 3. x=4x=4: the graph ends at a filled point just above x=4x=4 on one branch, and a new branch starts from an open circle directly below it at the same x=4x=4. This is a jump discontinuity — ff is not even continuous at x=4x=4, and differentiability requires continuity, so ff cannot be differentiable there.

Step 4. x=8x=8: the second branch rises to a sharp peaked corner exactly at x=8x=8 (rising into the point, then immediately descending) — the left-hand and right-hand tangent slopes are unequal (one positive, one negative), so the derivative does not exist at x=8x=8. …

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