Piecewise Investigations

21 – Graphing the Piecewise Function

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Graphing a Piecewise Function
1. Graph the endpoints of each piece.
If included:
If exclude:
2. Connect endpoints with a straight line (assuming linear).
3. In this course, piecewise functions will be graphed on [–10, 10].
1. Graph the function below:
x  5 x  3
f x  
 x  2 x  3

f  10   10  5  5 included 

f  3   3  5  2  not included 
f  3   3  2  5  included 
f 10   10  2  8 included 
 2. Graph the function below:
1
 x  6 x  6
g x   2
 x  4 x  4

1
g  10    10   6  1 included 
2
1
g  6    6   6  3  included 
2
g  4     4   4  8 included 

g 10   10  4  6 included 

3. Graph the function below:
 1
 2 x  3 x  2

h  x   x 2  x  2
1
 x 1 x  2
2
1
h  10    10   3  8 included 
2
1
h  2    2   3  4  included 
2
h  2   2  not included 
h  2   2  not included 
1
h  2    2   1  not included 
2
1
h 10   10   1  6 included 
2
 4. Graph the function below:
2x  12 x  5

k  x   7 3  x  4
2x  11 x  4


k  10   8  inc  k  5   2  inc 

k  3   7  not  k  4   7  not 

k  4   3  inc  k 10   9  inc 

 5. Graph the function below:
1
 2 x  4 x  6

n  x   2x 4  x  2
5 4x7

6 x7

n  10   1 inc  n  6   1  inc 

n  4   8  not  n  2   4  inc 
n  4   5  inc  n  7   5  not 
n  7   6  inc  n 10   6  inc 
 6. Graph the function below:

x  8 x  4
2x  4 4  x  2

px  
 x  10 2x6
4 x6

p  10   2  inc  p  4   4  inc 

p  4   4  not  p  2   8  not 
p  2   8  not  p  6   4  not 
p  6   4  inc  p 10   4  inc 