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A parabola intersects the x-axis at x=3 and x=9.

What is the x-coordinate of the parabola's vertex?

User Ian Wise
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1 Answer

7 votes

Answer:

6

Explanation:

If the graph intersects the x-axis, then there is an x-intercept at that point. So, we know that 3 and 9 are the x-intercepts of the parabola.

Parabolas can only have 0, 1, or 2, x intercepts. The x coordinate of the vertex will be the average of the x coordinates of the x-intercepts, since the vertex will be in the middle of the 2 x intercept points.

Take the average of 3 and 9:

(3 + 9) / 2

12 / 2

= 6

The x coordinate of the vertex is 6.

User Mukund Patel
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5.9k points