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Unformatted text preview: graph. [Return to Problems] (b) Now with this one let’s first address the minus sign under the square root in more general
terms. We know that we can’t take the square roots of negative numbers, however the presence
of that minus sign doesn’t necessarily cause problems. We won’t be able to plug positive values
of x into the function since that would give square roots of negative numbers. However, if x were
© 2007 Paul Dawkins 231 http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/terms.aspx College Algebra negative, then the negative of a negative number is positive and that is okay. For instance, h ( -4 ) = - ( -4 ) = 4 = 2
So, don’t get all worried about that minus sign.
Now, let’s address the reflection here. Since the minus sign is under the square root as opposed
to in front of it we are doing a reflection about the y-axis. This means that we’ll need to change
all the signs of points on x. Note as well that this syncs up with our discussion on this minus sign at the start of this part.
Here is the graph for this function. [Return to Problems] © 2007 Paul Dawkins 232 http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/ter...
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- Spring '12