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(01.04 MC) What is the domain of the radical function f of x is equal to the square root of the quantity 2 times x squared minus 3 times x minus 20 end quantity (2 points) D: (–∞, ∞) D: (–∞, –2.5] ∪ [4, ∞) D: [–2.5, 4] D: [ –2.5, ∞)

User GBa
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1 Answer

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The domain of a radical function is all real numbers for which the radicand (the expression under the radical) is greater than or equal to zero. So in order to find the domain of $f(x)=\sqrt{2x^2-3x-20}$, we need to solve the inequality $2x^2-3x-20\ge 0$.

We can start by factoring the radicand:

```
2x^2-3x-20 = (2x+5)(x-4)
```

So the inequality becomes:

```
(2x+5)(x-4)\ge 0
```

This inequality is true when either $2x+5\ge 0$ or $x-4\ge 0$. Solving these inequalities, we get:

```
x\ge -\frac52 \text{ or } x\ge 4
```

Putting these two restrictions together, we get that the domain of $f(x)$ is the set of all real numbers $x$ such that $x\ge -\frac52$ or $x\ge 4$. This can be written in mathematical notation as:

```
D = \left\{ x \in \RR \mid x\ge -\frac52 \text{ or } x\ge 4 \right\}
```

In interval notation, this is:

```
D = \boxed{\left[ -\frac52, \infty \right)}
```
User Wednesday
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