MTH 252

Section 4.4
Exercise 24
Justin Drawbert
June 29, 2010

In James Stewart’s Calculus: Concepts and Contexts, 4th Edition, Section 4.4, Excercise 24, we
are given the parametric equation

x = t4 + 4t3 − 8t2 , y = 2t2 − t

We are then asked to find the points at which the curve has horizontal or vertical tangents.
dy
We start by using calculus to put the equation in the form dx . Hopefully this will make things
a bit clearer and give us some insight as to what’s going on with what is likely to be a bit of an
unfarmiliar equation and how how these points may occur.
dy dy/dt 4t − 1
= = 2
dx dx/dt 4t + 12t2 − 16t
We should now be able to see that the point(s) on the curve for which a line tangent to the
curve is horizontal will occur at the point(s) at which the slope of the curve is zero, or in other
dy
words, when dx = 0. This is true for values of t such that dy
dt = 0.

We should then also see that the point(s) on the curve for which a line tangent to the curve is
dy
vertical will occur when the slope of the curve is vertical or undefined, or in other words, when dx
dx
is undefined. This is true for values of t such that dt = 0.

Let us start by finding the point(s) at which the curve has horizontal tangent(s). We do this
by first setting dy
dt equal to 0 and then solving for t.

dy 1
= 4t − 1 = 0 ⇒ t =
dt 4
So our curve will have a horizontal tangent at t = 14 . Plugging t = 14 back into our original equation
gives us:
   4  3  2    2
1 1 1 1 111 1 1 1 1
x = +4 −8 =− , y =2 − =−
4 4 4 4 256 4 4 4 8
So the point at which the curve has a horizontal tangent is
 
111 1
− ,− ≈ (−0.434, −0.125)
256 8
dx
Let us now find the point(s) at which the cuve has vertical tangent(s). We first set dt equal to
0 and then slove for t.
dx
= 4t3 + 12t2 − 16t = 4t(t2 − 3t − 4) = 4t(t + 4)(t − 1) = 0
dt
t=0 or t = −4 or t=1

1
Plugging these values into our original equation gives us
x(0) = 0, y(0) = 0
x(−4) = (−4) + 4(−4) − 8(−4) = −128,
4 3 2
y(−4) = 2(−4)2 − (−4) = 36
x(1) = (1)4 + 4(1)3 − 8(1)2 = −3, y = 2(1)2 − 1 = 1

So the points at which the curve has vertical tangents are

(0, 0), (−128, 36), (−3, 1)
Graphing allows us to see this visually. We start fairly zoomed in, but then zoom out in order to
see that our curve does indeed have a point with a vertical tangent at (−128, 36).

Figure 1
2
Vertical Tangent
Horizontal Tangent
1.75

1.5

1.25

0.75
y

0.5

0.25

-0.25

-0.5
-4 -3.5 -3 -2.5 -2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5
x

Figure 2
55
Vertical Tangent
50

45

40

35

30

25
y

20

15

10

-5
-140 -120 -100 -80 -60 -40 -20 0
x

I believe the purpose of this lab was to make sure that we were comfortable dealing with
parametric equations so that we might show that the methods are really not all that different.