Pre-Calculus Advanced Period B SOLUTIONS: Sections 4.1-4.

Instructions
You have 40 minutes to complete this evaluation. Show all work on a separate piece of paper
and write all ANSWERS on the exam. You must justify your work to obtain full credit.
You will receive little to no credit without coherent logical reasoning. Good luck and may
the spaghetti monster be with you. TI-89 permitted.

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Date

Total:70 points

Grade to Date::
 1. Determine which functions are polynomial functions. For those that are, state the
degree. For those that are not, tell why not. (5pts each)

Solution 1.

This one is a too easy!!

(a) f (x) = 4x2 + 4x6 : YES. deg(f ) = 6.

(b) g(x) = 2x3 − 3x2 + 9 YES. deg(g) = 3.
x2 1
(c) k(x) = 3 − + YES. deg(k) = 2.
2 2
(d) h(x) = x − 2x + 3x3 − 1
5 2
YES. deg(h) = 5.
√
(e) a(x) = x2 − 2x + 1 YES.

2. Construct a polynomial function that might have the given graph. (5pts )

Solution 2.
The roots are x = −1 and x = 2. We observe
that both have even multiplicity because the
6
roots are tangent to the x-axis; moreover, the
end behavior of the curve suggest that the
5
polynomial has a positive leading coefficient
and its degree is even. One possible function
4
that produces the curve to the left is
3 f (x) = (x + 1)2 (x − 2)2 =
2 when expanded the polynomial function we
obtain:
1
f (x) = x4 − 2x3 − 3x2 + 4x + 4
−3 −2 −1 0 1 2 3 4
Note that this is just one function that can
−1 produce this curve, your answers may vary.

−2

−3

−4
3. Graph each polynomial below by: Determining the end behavior, find all real roots
and multiplicity and, y-intercept. (5pts each)

(a) f (x) = −x2 (x − 1)2

(b) f (x) = −(x + 1)(x − 1)(x − 2)
(c) h(x) = x2 (x + 1)(2x + 1)

Solution 3. f (x) = −x2 (x − 1)2 is an even power polyno-

mial with a negative leading coefficient giving
us our end behavior:

. &

The real roots are clearly x = 0 mul 2 and

0 1 x = 1 mult 2. To find the y-intercept we
evaluate f (0) = −(0)2 (0 − 1)2 = 0 giving us
(0, 0)

f (x) = −(x + 1)(x − 1)(x − 2) is an odd

power polynomial with a negative leading co-
efficient giving us our end behavior:

- &

The real roots are clearly x = ±1 and

x = 2 mult 2. To find the y-intercept we
−1 0 1 2 evaluate f (0) = −(0 + 1)(0 − 1)(0 − 2) = −2
giving us (0, −2)
 h(x) = x2 (x + 1)(2x + 1) is an even power
polynomial with a positive leading coefficient
giving us our end behavior:

- %

The real roots are clearly x = 0 mult 2 and

0
1
x = −1, − .
2
The y-intercept (0, 0) for obvious reasons.

1
4. Form two polynomials of degree three whose real zeros are r = − , −2, 1 that have
3
different end behavior. (5pts each)

Solution 4. Answers many vary: Recall that if r is a root of a polynomial, then (x−r)
is a factor, thus we can write our functions as:

f (x) = a(3x + 1)(x + 2)(x + 1)

If a > 0 then the end behavior is

. %
If a < 0 then the end behavior is
- &
5. Find the domain of each rational function below: (5 points each)

x+5
(a) f (x) = −
x2 (x − 1)2
x−1
(b) f (x) = 2
x +2
x2
(c) h(x) = 2
3x + 5x − 2
x+5
Solution 5. (a) f (x) = − is undefined when x2 (x − 1)2 = 0 Solving this
x2 (x
− 1)2
equation we see that x 6= 0, 1, Thus

dom(f ) = (−∞, 0) ∪ (0, 1) ∪ (1, ∞)

x−1
(b) f (x) = is always defined because the sum of two positive numbers can
x2 + 2
not be equal to 0, that is x2 + 2 > 0f or allx ∈ R

dom(f ) = (−∞, ∞)

x2
(c) h(x) = is undefined when 3x2 + 5x − 2 = 0 Factoring the LHS we
3x2 + 5x − 2
1
obtain (3x − 1)(x + 2) = 0 and we see that x 6= , −2, Thus
3
   
1 1
dom(f ) = (−∞, −2) ∪ −2, ∪ ,∞
3 3
6. Find the Vertical, horizontal, and oblique asymptotes, if any, of each rational function.
(5pts each)

3x
(a) f (x) = −
x+4
x3 − 8
(b) f (x) = −
x2 − 5x + 6
x3
(c) f (x) = −
x4 − 1
6x2 + 7x − 5
(d) f (x) = −
3x + 5

Solution 6. For each problem we will first reduce the ratio by factoring if possible.
Secondly, we will look for vertical asymptotes and holes. Finally we will exam the
degree if the numerator and dominator in order to determine if the function has a
horizontal or oblique asymptote (doing long division if necessary).

3x
(a) f (x) = −
x+4
Solve x + 4 = 0 to find the vertical asymptote

x = −4

The degree of the numerator is equal to the degree of the denominator, so we take the
ratio of the leading coefficients to get

y = −3

Because we have a HA it is not possible to have an oblique asymptote.

x3 − 8
(b) f (x) = − 2
x − 5x + 6
Simplify:

x3 − 8 (x − 2)(x2 + 2x + 4) x2 + 2x + 4
f (x) = − = = −
x2 − 5x + 6 (x − 3)(x − 2) (x − 3)

We see that x = 3 is our vertical asymptote. Note that we can cancel (x − 2) which
will gives us a hole in our graph at x = 2. The y coordinate of the hole is found by
evaluating the reduced function at x = 2 We will preform long division on the reduced
rational function to find the oblique asymptote. We will negate the radicand when we
preform the division.
 −x −5

2
x − 3 − x − 2x − 4
x2 − 3x
− 5x − 4
5x − 15
− 19

We take the quotient −x − 5 to be the oblique asymptote

y = −x − 5

x3
(c) f (x) = −
x4 − 1
Simplify:
x3 x3
f (x) = − 4 = 2
x −1 (x + 1)(x − 1)(x + 1)
We see that
x = ±1
are our vertical asymptotes. The function is bottom heavy, so the horizontal asymptote
is the the x-axis or
y=0

6x2 + 7x − 5
(d) f (x) = −
3x + 5
We Simplify by factoring the numerator to get
6x2 + 7x − 5 (2x − 1)(3x + 5)
f (x) = − =−
3x + 5 (3x + 5)
Nice! we can reduce the function to

f (x) = −(2x − 1)
5
which appears to be the equation of a line; however, it is discontinuous at x = −
3
because this number is not in thedomain 
of the function. The function has no asymp-
5 13
totes, but it does have a hole at − , How did I get the y-value?
3 3
     
5 5 13
f − =− 2 − −1 =
3 3 3

x2 − 1
7. Graph f (x) =
x+1