Name: ______________________________ #: _____

Date: _________________________ Period: _____

Transformations WHY?
Throughout this course you will get really used to me asking why? all the time.
Rather than let me get annoying about it, just start yourself off by always asking
yourself or your partner why functions behave the way they do. Our first
investigation? Transformations.
Imagine you have the parent function f ( x )=x 2 . With your partner, describe what
g ( x ) =x2 2 looks like and justify why this happens.

Imagine you have the parent function f ( x )=x 2 . With your partner, describe what
g ( x ) =( x2 )2 looks like and justify why this happens.

Consider the table:

f ( x )=x 2
0
2
3
3.5

0
4
9
12.25

Now consider the transformation that translates

2
g ( x ) =( x2 )

f (x)

to the right;

( x2 )2=4
1. What value of

makes this statement true:

2. What value of

makes

( x2 )2=9

3. What value of

makes

( x2 )2=12.25

( x2 )2=4 ?

true?
true?

Now, with your partner, justify why g ( x ) =( x2 )2 produces the same graph as
f ( x )=x 2 translated two units to the right. (go back to the front of the page; you
may want to write your revised thoughts in a new color DO NOT get rid of your
old thoughts!)
Describe the transformation on the parent function f ( x )=x 2 and justify why this
occurs. If you get stuck, consider using the table above.
Function
Description
Justification
2
l ( x )=x

t ( x )=(x )2

p ( x )=2 x 2

m ( x ) = ( 2 x )2

*What properties of f ( x )=x 2

f ( x )=(x )3 look like?

affect our transformation here? What would