Which of the following describes the end behavior of the graph of a cubic function?
Practice Questions
1 question
Q1
Which of the following describes the end behavior of the graph of a cubic function?
Both ends rise.
Both ends fall.
One end rises and the other falls.
The graph is constant.
A cubic function has one end rising and the other falling, characteristic of odd-degree polynomials.
Questions & Step-by-step Solutions
1 item
Q
Q: Which of the following describes the end behavior of the graph of a cubic function?
Solution: A cubic function has one end rising and the other falling, characteristic of odd-degree polynomials.
Steps: 4
Step 1: Understand what a cubic function is. A cubic function is a polynomial of degree 3, which means it has the form f(x) = ax^3 + bx^2 + cx + d, where a, b, c, and d are constants and a is not zero.
Step 2: Identify the degree of the polynomial. Since a cubic function is of degree 3, it is classified as an odd-degree polynomial.
Step 3: Learn about the end behavior of odd-degree polynomials. For odd-degree polynomials, as x (the input) goes to positive infinity (very large positive numbers), the output (f(x)) also goes to positive infinity. Conversely, as x goes to negative infinity (very large negative numbers), the output goes to negative infinity.
Step 4: Conclude the end behavior of a cubic function. Therefore, the end behavior of a cubic function is that one end of the graph rises (goes up) while the other end falls (goes down).