In Exercises $17-42,(\text { a })$ find the critical numbers of $f(\text { if any }),(b)$ find the open interval(s) on which the function is increasing or decreasing, (c) apply the First Derivative Test to identify all relative extrema, and (d) use a graphing utility to confirm your results.
$$
f(x)=\left\{\begin{array}{ll}{2 x+1,} & {x \leq-1} \\ {x^{2}-2,} & {x>-1}\end{array}\right.
$$