Critical Numbers
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Mathematics/Calculus
Fermat's TheoremTheorem 1. If $f$ has a local maximum or minimum at $c$, and if $f'(c)$ exists, then $f'(c) = 0$.Proof. Without loss of generality, suppose that $f$ has a local maximum at $c$. This means that $f(c) \geq f(c+h)$ for $h$ which is sufficiently close to $0$. If $h > 0$, we have $$\frac{f(c+h) - f(c)}{h} \leq 0 \\ \Longrightarrow \lim_{h \rightarrow 0^+} \frac{f(c+h)-f(c)}{h} = f'(c)..