inflection point

Plot of y = x with an inflection point at (0,0), which is also a stationary point. The roots, stationary points, inflection point and concavity of a cubic polynomial x − 6x + 9x − 4 (solid black curve) and its first (dashed red) and second (dotted orange) derivatives. In differential calculus and differential geometry, an inflection point, point of inflection, flex, or inflection (rarely inflexion) is a point on a smooth plane curve at which the curvature changes sign. In particular, in the case of the graph of a function, it is a point where the function changes from being concave (concave downward) to convex (concave upward), or vice versa.

For the graph of a function f of differentiability class C (its first derivative f', and its second derivative f'', exist and are continuous), the condition f'' = 0 can also be used to find an inflection point since a point of f'' = 0 must be passed to change f'' from a positive value (convex) to a negative value (concave) or vice versa as f'' is continuous; an inflection point of the curve is where f'' = 0 and changes its sign at the point (from positive to negative or from negative to positive). A point where the second derivative vanishes but does not change its sign is sometimes called a point of undulation or undulation point.