3/10/2015

Bicol University College of Engineering

Civil Engineering Department

Definition:
An asymptote is a line that a graph approaches indefinitely near but
does not intersect or touches.

For example, in the following graph of y=1/x, the line approaches

the x-axis (y=0), but never touches it. No matter how far we go into
infinity, the line will not actually reach y=0, but will always get
closer and closer.
BY:

ENGR. JEFFERSON M. CIPRIANO, MET

Assistant Professor II

VERTICAL ASYMPTOTE Example:

In general, the line x = a is a vertical asymptote for the Let
graph of f if f (x) either increases or decreases without
bound as x approaches a from the right or from the left.
This is symbolically written as:
Solution:
The domain of f is the set of all real numbers except 3, since 3
makes the denominator zero and the division by zero is not
allowed in mathematics. However we can try to find out how does
the graph of f behave close to 3.
Let us evaluate function f at values of x close to 3 such that x < 3.
The values are shown in the table below:
x 1 2 2.5 2.8 2.9 2.99 2.999 2.99999
f (x) -1 -2 -4 -10 -20 -200 -2000 -2*105

Let us now evaluate f at values of x close to 3 such that x > 3. HORIZONTAL ASYMPTOTE
x 5 4 3.5 3.2 3.1 3.01 3.001 3.00001 Let f be a rational function defined as follows:
f (x) 1 2 4 10 20 200 2000 2*105

The graph of f is shown below. Notes

1. As x approaches 3 from the
left or by values smaller than
Theorem:
3, f(x) decreases without
bound. Let m is the degree of the polynomial in the numerator and n
2. As x approaches 3 from the is the degree of the polynomial in the denominator.
right or by values larger than 3,
f(x) increases without bound.
Case 1: For m < n , the horizontal asymptote is the line y = 0.
We say that the line x = 3, broken Case 2: For m = n , the horizontal asymptote is the line y =
line, is the vertical asymptote am / bn
for the graph of f.
Case 3: For m > n , there is no horizontal asymptote.

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Example: Solution:
Let f be a rational function defined by
a. The domain of f is the set of all real numbers except x = 1, since
this value of x makes the denominator zero.
b. The x intercept is found by solving f(x) = 0 or x+1 = 0. The x
a. Find the domain of f. intercept is at the point (-1 , 0). The y intercept is at the point (0 ,
f(0)) = (0 , -1).
b.Find the x and y intercepts of the graph of f.
c. The vertical asymptote is given by the zero of the denominator x =
c.Find the vertical and horizontal asymptotes for the graph 1. The degree of the numerator is 1 and the degree of the
of f if there are any. denominator is 1. They are equal and according to the theorem
d.Use your answers to parts a, b and c above to sketch above, the horizontal asymptote is the line y = 1/1 = 1
the graph of function f. d. Although parts a, b and c give some important information about the
graph of f, we still need to construct a sign table for function f in
order to be able to sketch with ease.

Steps: Steps:

a. To sketch the graph of f, we start by sketching the x and y intercepts b. Starting from left, we sketch f taking into account the fact that y = 1
and the vertical and horizontal asymptotes in broken lines. See sketch is a horizontal asymptote: The graph of f is close to this line on the
below. left. See sketch below

Steps: Steps:

c. Between -1 and 1 f (x) is negative, hence the graph of f is below the d. For x > 1, f (x) > 0 hence the graph is above the x axis. As x
x axis. (0 , -1) is a y intercept and x =1 is a vertical asymptote: as x approaches 1 from the right, the graph of f increases without
approaches 1 from left f (x) deceases without bound because f (x) bound ( f(x) >0 ). Also as x increases, the graph of f approaches y
< 0 in( -1 , 1). See sketch below. = 1 the horizontal asymptote. See sketch below..

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Sketch: