Answer:
1. Plot x = 0
(A. IF YOU CAN EASILY FIND IT, PLOT Y = 0)
(B. BONUS: PLOT A FEW EASY TO CALCULATE POINTS LIKE X = 1 & X = -1)
2. Figure out what happens when x is really big (in the positive and negative direction)
3. Optional: look for any “significant” x-values
4. Connect the dots and finish!
Explanation:
1. Plot x = 0
The first thing we want to do is get some points up on our graph, so we want to pick the ones that will be easy to calculate. For almost any equation, plugging in x = 0 and solving for y is fast and easy to do by eye, and almost always doable without a calculator. For our example equation:
So, the first point we’ll put on our graph is (0, -4).