Question

(5 pts) A quadratic function f is given by f(x) = ax2 + bx + c where a is not 0. Select all

Answer 1

Answers:

• a) True. Plug in x = 0 and it leads to y = c. Therefore, the point (0,c) is on the parabola.
• b) False. Plug in y = 0 and apply the quadratic formula. One x intercept may sometimes be x = c, but it could easily be other values as well. Or perhaps you may not get any real number solutions at all. See part d) below.
• c) True. If a < 0, then the leading coefficient is negative. Overall, both endpoints will tend toward negative infinity to produce a parabola that opens downward.
• d) False. The quadratic may have one x intercept or it may not have any x intercepts at all. It depends on what the discriminant d = b^2 - 4ac is equal to. If d < 0, then we have no x intercepts. If d = 0, then we have exactly 1 x intercept. If d > 0, then we have two different x intercepts.
• e) True. The vertex's x coordinate is -b/(2a). If b = 0, then the x coordinate of the vertex is 0. The vertical line x = 0 is directly on top of the y axis.