I'm trying to understand calculus, I'm doing a basic but fast course and I haven't really covered much algebra and trigonometry so I'm struggling a bit. To check my answers and try to understand what is going on I decided to plot a graph.
I wasn't sure whether the graph was the y= or the dy/dx = so plotted two lines on the graph which look very different, the y= one is a pointy n shape and the dy/dx one is sort of u shape.
My assignment question is to find the coordinates of the stationary points and determine their nature. I did this and have the same answer as my friends.
The stationary points are on the dy/dx line (where the line crosses the x axis, is that right?). The coordinates I got are on the y= line.
I know I'm probably really dumb but can someone explain to me what it is all about please.