Your inner for loop should probably not be reseting "i", you should probably choose a different variable name such as "j".
double lastY = 0;
for(int i=0;i<numPoints;i++){
System.out.print(i+"\t");
x[0]=minX;
x[numPoints-1]= maxX;
x[i]=x[0]+ i*((maxX-minX)/(numPoints-1));
y[i]=(((x[i])*(x[i])*(x[i]))-(2*((x[i])*(x[i])))-(5*x[i])+4);
System.out.print(i);
System.out.print("\t");
System.out.print(x[i]);
System.out.print("\t");
System.out.println(y[i]);
//i gets reset here
for(i=0;i<numPoints;i++){
if (y[i]>=0 && y[i+1]<0){
...
}//for
}//for
Also "y[i+1]", will be null since it hasn't yet been populated with a value. The OutOfBounds exception is occuring when you reach the next to last interation in "y[i+1]". If numPoints = 5, then plugging the values in during the next to last iteration we see:
for (i=0; i<=5;i++) {
if (y[5] >=0 && y[5+1]<0) ...
y[5+1]" also referred to as "y[6]" doesn't exist. Only y[0], y[1], y[2], y[3], y[4], y[5] exist. You could probably eliminate the inner for loop and just keep track of the last y[i] value and compare it to the current y[i] value. Try 1 of the following two code examples:
Since the function appears linear (and a linear function will only cross 0 once) you could do the following:
Scanner input= new Scanner(System.in);
double minX =0.0;
double maxX=0.0;
int numPoints=0;
double lastX=0.0;
double lastY=0.0;
System.out.print("Enter number of points: ");
numPoints=input.nextInt();
System.out.print("Enter min x: ");
minX=input.nextDouble();
System.out.print("Enter max x: ");
maxX=input.nextDouble();
System.out.println("Numpoints: " + numPoints);
double [] x= new double[numPoints];
double [] y= new double[numPoints];
int change=0;
System.out.println("i"+"\t"+"x[i]"+"\t"+"y[i]");
for(int i=0;i<numPoints;i++){
System.out.print(i+"\t");
x[0]=minX;
x[numPoints-1]= maxX;
x[i]=x[0]+ i*((maxX-minX)/(numPoints-1));
y[i]=(((x[i])*(x[i])*(x[i]))-(2*((x[i])*(x[i])))-(5*x[i])+4);
System.out.print(i);
System.out.print("\t");
System.out.print(x[i]);
System.out.print("\t");
System.out.println(y[i]);
//go to else if for first iteration
if (i>0){
if(lastY >=0 && y[i]<=0){
//System.out.println("Inside inner if");
change=i;
}//if
else if(lastY<= 0 && y[i]>=0){
//System.out.println("Inside inner else if");
change=i;
}//else if
}//if
//in case the first number starts on 0
else if(y[i]==0){
//System.out.println("Inside inner if");
change=i;
}//else if
//this will print out the value of change during every iteration,
//probably not what you want
//if you only want to print it out once, move it to the outside of the "for" loop
//since the function appears linear it will only cross the "y" axis 1 time,
//then you don't need to use an array, you could just use "double change;"
//and eliminate "numChange"
System.out.print("\t"+change);
System.out.println();
//set lastY=y[i]
lastY = y[i];
}//for
Otherwise, you can do the following for both linear and non-linear functions (which may cross the y axis more than once):
Scanner input= new Scanner(System.in);
double minX =0.0;
double maxX=0.0;
int numPoints=0;
int numChange=0;
double lastX=0.0;
double lastY=0.0;
System.out.print("Enter number of points: ");
numPoints=input.nextInt();
System.out.print("Enter min x: ");
minX=input.nextDouble();
System.out.print("Enter max x: ");
maxX=input.nextDouble();
System.out.println("Numpoints: " + numPoints);
double [] x= new double[numPoints];
double [] y= new double[numPoints];
int [] change= new int[numPoints];
System.out.println("i"+"\t"+"x[i]"+"\t"+"y[i]");
System.out.println("i"+"\t"+"x[i]"+"\t"+"y[i]");
for(int i=0;i<numPoints;i++){
System.out.print(i+"\t");
x[0]=minX;
x[numPoints-1]= maxX;
x[i]=x[0]+ i*((maxX-minX)/(numPoints-1));
y[i]=(((x[i])*(x[i])*(x[i]))-(2*((x[i])*(x[i])))-(5*x[i])+4);
System.out.print(i);
System.out.print("\t");
System.out.print(x[i]);
System.out.print("\t");
System.out.println(y[i]);
//go to else if for first iteration
if (i>0){
if(lastY >=0 && y[i]<=0){
//System.out.println("Inside inner if");
change[numChange]=i;
numChange++;
}//if
else if(lastY<= 0 && y[i]>=0){
//System.out.println("Inside inner else if");
change[numChange]=i;
//added numChange++
numChange++;
}//else if
}//if
//in case the first number starts on 0
else if(y[i]==0){
//System.out.println("Inside inner if");
change[numChange]=i;
numChange++;
}//else if
//we will print out the crossing points outside of this for loop
// System.out.print("\t"+change[0]);
//System.out.print("Outside inner for \t"+change[numChange]);
System.out.println();
//set lastY=y[i]
lastY = y[i];
}//for
System.out.print("The function crosses the y-axis at the following i value(s):");
System.out.print("\t");
for (int j=0; j<numChange;j++){
if (j>0){
System.out.print(", " + change[j]);
}//if
else{
System.out.print(change[j]);
}//else
}//for
System.out.println();
System.out.println();