This week's activity consisted of us learning about inverse's and their functions; how better to learn about that than actually physically doing it? Our math teacher, Mr. Kelly, had us graph the function x^2, and then find the inverse. The inverse is found by switching out the xs for the ys, for example, the function is y=x^2 therefore the formula becomes x=y^2. Now, to get y by itself, square rooting the x and y to get rid of the squared is necessary. When a variable is square rooted, it has to be + or - so the formula is now, + or - square root of x = y, then we graphed both of those functions, the + or -. It looked like the same function sideways, then we had to draw the y=x which is a diagonal line with a slope of 1 that passes through the origin. Folding our graph along that line, our two graphs should have lined up, however my dotted line sucked and it didn't line up remotely, but if I had drew it right, it would have. This is how to graph the inverse of a function. The function that we drew, x^2 passes the vertical line test, making it a function, but since the inverse does not pass the vertical line test, it is not a function. However there are functions that pass both, for example, y=x or practically any straight line, they pass the vertical and horizontal line test. Big thanks to our teacher for being creative and for being great at what he does!
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AuthorMy name is Evelyn Bradley and I'm in pre calculus! Archives
April 2015
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