Example 1 Graph

Solution
This is a line in the slope intercept form
In this case the line has a y intercept of (0,b) and a slope of m. Recall that slope can be thought
of as

Note that if the slope is negative we tend to think of the rise as a fall.
The slope allows us to get a second point on the line. Once we have any point on the line and
the slope we move right by run and up/down by rise depending on the sign. This will be a
second point on the line.
In this case we know (0,3) is a point on the line and the slope is
. So starting at
(0,3) well move 5 to the right (i.e.
) and down 2 (i.e.
) to get (5,1) as a second point on the line. Once weve got two points on a line all we need to
do is plot the two points and connect them with a line.
Heres the sketch for this line.

Example 2 Graph
Solution
There really isnt much to this problem outside of reminding ourselves of what absolute value

is. Recall that the absolute value function is defined as,

The graph is then,

Example 3 Graph

Solution
This is a parabola in the general form.
In this form, the x-coordinate of the vertex (the highest or lowest point on the parabola)

is

and we get the y-coordinate is

. So, for our parabola the coordinates of the vertex will be.

So, the vertex for this parabola is (1,4).

We can also determine which direction the parabola opens from the sign of a. If a is positive
the parabola opens up and if a is negative the parabola opens down. In our case the parabola
opens down.
Now, because the vertex is above the x-axis and the parabola opens down we know that well
have x-intercepts (i.e. values of x for which well have
this graph. So, well solve the following.

) on

So, we will have x-intercepts at

and
. Notice that to
make our life easier in the solution process we multiplied everything by -1 to get the
coefficient of the

positive. This made the factoring easier.

Heres a sketch of this parabola.

Example 4 Graph
Solution
Most people come out of an Algebra class capable of dealing with functions in the
form
in a Calculus class are in the form

. However, many functions that you will have to deal with

and can only be easily

worked with in that form. So, you need to get used to working with functions in this form.
The nice thing about these kinds of function is that if you can deal with functions in the
form

then you can deal with functions in the form

even if you arent that familiar with them.

Lets first consider the equation.

This is a parabola that opens up and has a vertex of (3,-4), as we know from our work in the
previous example.
For our function we have essentially the same equation except the x and ys are switched
around. In other words, we have a parabola in the form,
This is the general form of this kind of parabola and this will be a parabola that opens left or
right depending on the sign of a. The y-coordinate of the vertex is given by
and we find the x-coordinate by plugging this into the equation. So, you can
see that this is very similar to the type of parabola that youre already used to dealing with.
Now, lets get back to the example. Our function is a parabola that opens to the right (a is
positive) and has a vertex at (-4,3). The vertex is to the left of the y-axis and opens to the right
so well need the y-intercepts (i.e. values of y for which well have
)). We find these just like we found x-intercepts in the previous problem.

So, our parabola will have y-intercepts at

sketch of the graph.

and

. Heres a

Example 5 Graph
.
Solution
To determine just what kind of graph weve got here we need to complete the square on both
the x and the y.

Recall that to complete the square we take the half of the coefficient of the x (or the y), square
this and then add and subtract it to the equation.
Upon doing this we see that we have a circle and its now written in standard form.

When circles are in this form we can easily identify the center : (h, k) and radius : r. Once we
have these we can graph the circle simply by starting at the center and moving right, left, up
and down by r to get the rightmost, leftmost, top most and bottom most points respectively.
Our circle has a center at (-1, 4) and a radius of 3. Heres a sketch of this circle.

Example 6 Graph

Solution
This is an ellipse. The standard form of the ellipse is

This is an ellipse with center (h, k) and the right most and left most points are a distance
of a away from the center and the top most and bottom most points are a distance of b away
from the center.

The ellipse for this problem has center (2, -2) and has
. Note that to get the b were really rewriting the equation as,

to get it into standard from.

and

Heres a sketch of the ellipse.

Example 7 Graph
Solution
This is a hyperbola. There are actually two standard forms for a hyperbola. Here are the
basics for each form.

Form

Center

(h, k)

(h, k)

Opens

Opens right and left

Opens up and down

Vertices

a units right and left

of center.

b units up and down

from center.

Slope of
Asymptotes
So, what does all this mean? First, notice that one of the terms is positive and the other is
negative. This will determine which direction the two parts of the hyperbola open. If
the x term is positive the hyperbola opens left and right. Likewise, if the y term is positive the
parabola opens up and down.

Both have the same center. Note that hyperbolas dont really have a center in the sense that
circles and ellipses have centers. The center is the starting point in graphing a hyperbola. It
tells us how to get to the vertices and how to get the asymptotes set up.
The asymptotes of a hyperbola are two lines that intersect at the center and have the slopes
listed above. As you move farther out from the center the graph will get closer and closer to
the asymptotes.
For the equation listed here the hyperbola will open left and right. Its center is
(-1, 2). The two vertices are (-4, 2) and (2, 2). The asymptotes will have slopes

Here is a sketch of this hyperbola. Note that the asymptotes are denoted by the two dashed
lines.

Example 8 Graph

and

Solution
There really isnt a lot to this problem other than making sure that both of these exponentials
are graphed somewhere.
These will both show up with some regularity in later sections and their behavior as x goes to
both plus and minus infinity will be needed and from this graph we can clearly see this
behavior.

Example 9 Graph

Solution
This has already been graphed once in this review, but this puts it here with all the other
important graphs.

Example 10 Graph

Solution
This one is fairly simple, we just need to make sure that we can graph it when need be.

Remember that the domain of the square root function is

Example 11 Graph
Solution
Again, there really isnt much to this other than to make sure its been graphed somewhere so
we can say weve done it.

Example 12 Graph
Solution
There really isnt a whole lot to this one. Heres the graph for
.

Lets also note here that we can put all values of x into cosine (which wont be the case for
most of the trig functions) and so the domain is all real numbers. Also note that
It is important to notice that cosine will never be larger than 1 or smaller than -1. This will be
useful on occasion in a calculus class. In general we can say that

Example 13 Graph
Solution
As with the first problem in this section there really isnt a lot to do other than graph it. Here
is the graph.

From this graph we can see that sine has the same range that cosine does. In general

As with cosine, sine itself will never be larger than 1 and never smaller than -1. Also the
domain of sine is all real numbers.

Example 14 Graph

Solution
In the case of tangent we have to be careful when plugging xs in since tangent doesnt exist
wherever cosine is zero (remember that
Tangent will not exist at

).

and the graph will have asymptotes at these points. Here is the graph of tangent on the
range

Example 15 Graph
Solution
As with tangent we will have to avoid xs for which cosine is zero (remember
that

). Secant will not exist at

and the graph will have asymptotes at these points. Here is the graph of secant on the
range

Notice that the graph is always greater than 1 and less than -1. This should not be terribly
surprising. Recall that
by something less than one will be greater than 1. Also,
so we get the following ranges for secant.

. So, one divided

and

Transformations

In this section we are going to see how knowledge of some fairly simple graphs can
help us graph some more complicated graphs. Collectively the methods were going
to be looking at in this section are called transformations.
Vertical Shifts
The first transformation well look at is a vertical shift.
Given the graph of
the graph of
shifted up by c units if c is positive and or down by c units if c is negative.

So, if we can graph

getting the graph of
Lets take a look at a couple of examples.

will

is fairly easy.

Example 1 Using transformations sketch the graph of the following functions.

(a)

[Solution]

(b)
[Solution]
Solution
The first thing to do here is graph the function without the constant which by this point should
be fairly simple for you. Then shift accordingly.
(a)
In this case we first need to graph
(the dotted line on the graph below) and then pick
this up and shift it upwards by 3. Coordinate wise this will mean adding 3 onto all
the y coordinates of points on
Here is the sketch for this one.

[Return to Problems]

(b)
Okay, in this case were going to be shifting the graph of
(the dotted line on the
graph below) down by 5. Again, from a coordinate standpoint this means that we subtract 5
from the y coordinates of points on

Here is this graph.

[Return to Problems]

So, vertical shifts arent all that bad if we can graph the base function first. Note as
well that if youre not sure that you believe the graphs in the previous set of examples
all you need to do is plug a couple values of x into the function and verify that they
are in fact the correct graphs.
Horizontal Shifts

These are fairly simple as well although there is one bit where we need to be careful.
Given the graph of
the graph of
left by c units if c is positive and or right by c units if c is negative.

will

Now, we need to be careful here. A positive c shifts a graph in the negative direction
and a negative c shifts a graph in the positive direction. They are exactly opposite
than vertical shifts and its easy to flip these around and shift incorrectly if we arent
being careful.
Example 2 Using transformations sketch the graph of the following functions.
(a)

[Solution]

(b)
Solution

[Solution]

(a)
Okay, with these we need to first identify the base function. That is the function thats being
shifted. In this case it looks like we are shifting
then see that,

In this case

. We can

and so were going to shift the graph of

(the dotted line on the graph below) and move it 2 units to the left. This will mean
subtracting 2 from the x coordinates of all the points on
Here is the graph for this problem.

[Return to Problems]

(b)
In this case it looks like the base function is

and it also looks like

and so we will be shifting the graph of

(the dotted line on the graph below)
to the right by 4 units. In terms of coordinates this will mean that were going to add 4 onto
the x coordinate of all the points on

Here is the sketch for this function.

[Return to Problems]

Vertical and Horizontal Shifts

Now we can also combine the two shifts we just got done looking at into a single
problem. If we know the graph of
of

the graph
will be the graph

of
shifted left or right by c units depending on the sign of c and up or
down by k units depending on the sign of k.
Lets take a look at a couple of examples.
Example 3 Use transformation to sketch the graph of each of the following.
(a)
(b)
Solution

[Solution]
[Solution]

(a)
In this part it looks like the base function is
and it looks like will be shift this to the
right by 2 (since
) and up by 4 (since
). Here is the
sketch of this function.

[Return to Problems]

(b)
For this part we will be shifting
to the left by 3 (since
(since
). Here is the sketch of this function.

) and down 5

[Return to Problems]

Reflections
The final set of transformations that were going to be looking at in this section arent
shifts, but instead they are called reflections and there are two of them.
Reflection about the x-axis.
Given the graph of
then the graph of
axis. This means that the signs on the all the y coordinates are changed to the opposite sign.

is the

Reflection about the y-axis.

Given the graph of
then the graph of
axis. This means that the signs on the all the x coordinates are changed to the opposite sign.

Here is an example of each.

Example 4 Using transformation sketch the graph of each of the following.
(a)

[Solution]

(b)
[Solution]
Solution
(a) Based on the placement of the minus sign (i.e. its outside the square and NOT inside the
square, or
) it looks like we will be reflecting
about the x-axis. So,
again, the means that all we do is change the sign on all the y coordinates.
Here is the sketch of this graph.

is the

[Return to Problems]

(b) Now with this one lets first address the minus sign under the square root in more general
terms. We know that we cant take the square roots of negative numbers, however the
presence of that minus sign doesnt necessarily cause problems. We wont be able to plug
positive values of x into the function since that would give square roots of negative numbers.
However, if x were negative, then the negative of a negative number is positive and that is
okay. For instance,

So, dont get all worried about that minus sign.

Now, lets 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 well need
to change all the signs of points on

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.