Question

Which parent function is represented by the table?

Answer 1

x^2

Explanation:

So there's very two obvious ones we can elimination immediately, that's f(x) = x, and f(x) = |x|. The reason for this is because we can just look at the first ordered pair of (-2, 4). If it was f(x) = x, then the ordered pair would be (-2, -2), but it isn't. Very similar reasoning for f(x) = |x|, except for this function each ordered pair should have the same magnitude or absolute value. So the f(-2) should output 2, since it's the absolute value, but of course this isn't the case since it's 4.

So let's look at 2^x

`2^(-2) = (1)/(2^2) = (1)/(4)`

Since the y value is 4 and not 1/4, this is not the parent function

It should be the second option (x^2), and we can double check

(-2)^2 = 4

(-1)^2 = 1

(0)^2 = 0

(1)^2 = 1

(2)^2 = 4

It outputs the same y-values as the table so this is the parent function