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Example of A Linear Function

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71 views

Example of A Linear Function

Uploaded by

Dianna Rabadon
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Definition of a Linear Function

A linear function is any function that graphs to a straight line. What this means mathematically is that the
function has either one or two variables with no exponents or powers. If the function has more variables, the
variables must be constants or known variables for the function to remain a linear function.

Identifying Linear Functions


To identify linear functions, you can create a checklist of several items the function must meet.

1. The first item the function must satisfy is that it must have either one or two real variables. If another
variable is present, it must be a known variable or constant. For example, the function C = 2 * pi * r is a
linear function because only the C and r are real variables, with the pi being a constant.
2. The second item is that none of the variables can have an exponent or power to them. They cannot be
squared, cubed, or anything else. All variables must be in the numerator.
3. The third item is that the function must graph to a straight line. Any kind of a curve disqualifies the
function.

So, linear functions all have some kind of straight line when graphed. The line could be going up and down, left
and right, or slanted but the line is always straight. It doesn't matter where on the graph the function is plotted as
long as the line comes out straight.

Example of a linear function

Working with Linear Functions


If you know that a function is linear, you can plot the graph using just two
points. If you are unsure, you can use three or four points to double check.
To figure out your points to plot them, set up a T-chart and start plugging in
values for one of the variables. Plug the values into the function to calculate the
other variable and note it on the T-chart. When you have filled the T-chart, go ahead and plot the points on the
graph. Then, take a ruler and make a straight line through them. All linear functions will have points that are
lined up nicely.
Let's try graphing y = 2x.
First, we fill up a T-chart. I'm going to do four points so you can see
how the points line up and how, if you know that the function is
linear, just two points are sufficient.

x y
0 0
1 2
2 4
3 6
Now, that I've filled up my T-chart, I can go ahead and plot them. Let's see what we get.
Exponential functions look somewhat similar to functions you have seen before, in that they involve exponents, but there
is a big difference, in that the variable is now the power, rather than the base. Previously, you have dealt with such
functions asf(x) = x2, where the variable x was the base and the number 2 was the power. In the case of exponentials,
however, you will be dealing with functions such as g(x) = 2x, where the base is the fixed number, and the power is the
variable.

Let's look more closely at the function g(x) = 2x. To evaluate this function, we operate as usual, picking values of x,
plugging them in, and simplifying for the answers. But to evaluate 2x, we need to remember how exponents work. In
particular, we need to remember that negative exponents mean "put the base on the other side of the fraction line".

So, while positive x-values give us values like


these:

...negative x-values give us values


like these:

Copyright © Elizabeth Stapel


2002-2011 All Rights Reserved

Putting together the "reasonable"


(nicely graphable) points, this is our
T-chart:
...and this is our graph:

You should expect exponentials to look like this. That is, they start ADVERTISEMENT
small —very small, so small that they're practically indistinguishable
from "y = 0", which is the x-axis— and then, once they start growing,
they grow faster and faster, so fast that they shoot right up through the top of your graph.

You should also expect that your T-chart will not have many useful plot points. For instance, for x = 4 and x = 5, the y-
values were too big, and for just about all the negative x-values, the y-values were too small to see, so you would just draw
the line right along the top of the x-axis.

Note also that my axis scales do not match. The scale on the x-axis is much wider than the scale on the y-axis; the scale on
the y-axis is compressed, compared with that of the x-axis. You will probably find this technique useful when graphing
exponentials, because of the way that they grow so quickly. You will find a few T-chart points, and then, with your
knowledge of the general appearance of exponentials, you'll do your graph, with the left-hand portion of the graph usually
running right along the x-axis.

You may have heard of the term "exponential growth". This "starting slow, but then growing faster and faster all the time"
growth is what they are referring to. Specifically, our function g(x) above doubled each time we incremented x. That is,
when x was increased by 1 over what it had been, y increased to twice what it had been. This is the definition of
exponential growth: that there is a consistent fixed period over which the function will double (or triple, or quadruple, etc;
the point is that the change is always a fixed proportion). So if you hear somebody claiming that the world population is
doubling every thirty years, you know he is claiming exponential growth.

Exponential growth is "bigger" and "faster" than polynomial growth. This means that, no matter what the degree is on a
given polynomial, a given exponential function will eventually be bigger than the polynomial. Even though the
exponential function may start out really, really small, it will eventually overtake the growth of the polynomial, since it
doubles all the time.

For instance, x10 seems much


"bigger" than 10x, and initially
it is:
But eventually 10x (in blue
below) catches up and
overtakes x10 (at the red circle
below, where x is ten and y is
ten billion), and it's "bigger"
than x10 forever after:

Exponential functions always have some positive number other than 1 as the base. If you think about it, having a negative
number (such as –2) as the base wouldn't be very useful, since the even powers would give you positive answers (such as
"(–2)2 = 4") and the odd powers would give you negative answers (such as "(–2)3 = –8"), and what would you even do with
the powers that aren't whole numbers? Also, having 0 or 1 as the base would be kind of dumb, since 0 and 1 to any power
are just 0and 1, respectively; what would be the point? This is why exponentials always have something positive and other
than 1 as the base.

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