Question

For the function f(x) = x², what effect will multiplying f(x) by 1/4 have on the graph

A. the graph will be compressed horizontally.
B. the graph will be compressed vertically.
C. the graph will be stretched vertically.
D. the graph will be shifted horizontally.

Answer 1

Multiplying the function f(x) = x² by 1/4 will compress the graph vertically, making it closer to the x-axis as each y-value is scaled down by a factor of one-fourth.

Step-by-step explanation:

For the function f(x) = x², multiplying it by 1/4 will have the effect of compressing the graph vertically. This means that for each value of x, the corresponding value of f(x) will be one-fourth of what it would be without the multiplication by 1/4. So the graph will be closer to the x-axis compared to the original graph. In other words, the y-values of the function are scaled by a factor of 1/4, causing a vertical compression.