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How do you graph this and know if it is continuous or not?

How do you graph this and know if it is continuous or not?-example-1
User Woodster
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1 Answer

6 votes

Answer:

Continuous because there are no breaks.

The graph is included as an attachment.

Explanation:

Alright we want to graph:

y=x-4 for x<2

y=-2x+2 for x=2 or x>2

So let's graph the first piece y=x-4 for x<2.

I'm going to plug in 2 for x: y=2-4=-2. So this one line is going to contain an open circle at (2,-2). I say open circle because we did not have that we could actually include x=2 here because it says for x less than 2.

Now we are going to enter in one more number less than 2....your choice.

Let's go with x=0. When you plug in 0 for x into y=x-4 you get y=0-4=-4. So our line is going to include (0,-4).

So we are going to graph the points (0,-4) and (2,-2) again where (2,-2) is an open circle. Connect these points. You may extend your line left because we have x<2, but do not extend it right of x=2.

Let's look at the other piece now: y=-2x+2 for x=2 or x>2.

I'm going to plug in 2 for x: y=-2(2)+2=-4+2=-2 so we are going to include the point (2,-2) on our line. This was actually a point we used from above that we didn't want to include. We do now want to include because of the x=2 in our inequality so the dot can now be filled in. We need one more point to graph this line. Let's plug in a number greater than 2 since our inequality say x=2 or x>2. You choose. How about x=3?

y=-2(3)+2=-6+2=-3. So we are going to include the point (3,-3). So starting at (2,-2) and going right to connect it to (3,-3), you could extend passed the (3,-3) to the right.

I will show you my graph.

There are no breaks in the "curve", so it is continuous for all real numbers.

How do you graph this and know if it is continuous or not?-example-1
User Vedette
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8.2k points