Question

The table of values represents the function g(x) and the graph shows the function f(x).

Which statement about the functions is true?
1. f(x) and g(x) are both absolute value functions.
2. f(−2) is greater than g(−2) .
3. f(x) and g(x) intersect at exactly two points.
4. f(x) is greater than g(x) for all values of x.

Answer 1

2 and 3 are true

Explanation:

1. Although f(x) is in fact an absolute value function and g(x) never goes below 0, g(x) is not an absolute value function because it does not grow linearly. This is known because, between even x intervals, the y value does not change the same amount.

2. f(-2)=2, and g(-2) is 1, meaning that this statement is in fact correct.

3. For this part, it would probably be a good idea to figure out the equation of both graphs. For g(x), starting at the line of symmetry at x=-3, y is 0, which means that the parabola has not been shifted up or down at all, and that its vertex is at (-3,0). Since it grows at the same rate as the parent function of a parabola, its graph is (x+3)^2. For f(x), you can see that it is an absolute value shifted left 3 and up 1, giving it an equation of |x+3|+1. Now, I've graphed both of them below, and you can see that they intersect at exactly two points, making this statement true.

4. Once again, the graph is helpful here. You can see that although f(x) starts off greater, g(x) with its exponential growth quickly overtakes it. Therefore, this statement is false.

Hope this helps!