4.

6 Polynomial Functions 299

I EXERCISE SET 4.6

A In Exercises 21– 24, give a reason why each graph cannot repre-
1. Which of the functions in Figure 1 on page 288 are poly- sent a polynomial function that has the highest-degree term 2x 5.
nomial functions? 21. y 22. y
2. (a) Give an example of a power function that is not a
polynomial function.
(b) Give an example of a polynomial function that is not a
power function. x
3. Let f(x) ! x 2 and g(x) ! x 3. x
(a) Either by hand or with a graphing utility, on the same
set of axes draw the graphs of f and g on the interval
[0, 1].
(b) Compute and compare the average rates of change of 23. y 24. y
f and g on the interval [0, 1] and on the interval [0, 1/2].
G 4. Let f(t) ! t 4 and g(t) ! t 5.
(a) Using a graphing utility, draw the graphs of f and g on
the same set of axes.
(b) Which of the three types of symmetry discussed on x x
page 58 does the graph of each function possess?
(c) Compute the average rate of change of each function
on the interval ["2, 2].
(d) Explain why each answer in part (c) is predictable
G For Exercises 25 and 26:
from the symmetry of the graph.
(a) With a graphing utility, find a viewing rectangle that high-
lights the differences between the two functions, as in
In Exercises 5–16, sketch the graph of each function and spec-
Example 5.
ify all x- and y-intercepts.
2 4 (b) Find a sequence of viewing rectangles demonstrating that as
5. y ! (x " 2) # 1 6. y ! "3x
x gets larger and larger, the graph of g looks more and more
7. y ! "(x " 1)4 8. y ! "(x # 2)3
like the graph of f.
9. y ! (x " 4)3 " 2 10. y ! "(x " 4)3 " 2
4 4 25. f(x) ! 2x 2, g(x) ! 2x 2 " 12x " 5
11. y ! "2(x # 5) 12. y ! "2x # 5
26. f(x) ! 4x 3, g(x) ! 4x 3 # 72x 2 # 420x # 805
13. y ! (x # 1)5/2 14. y ! 12 x5 # 1
15. y ! "(x " 1)3 " 1 16. y ! x 8 In Exercises 27– 34:
(a) Determine the x- and y-intercepts and the excluded regions
In Exercises 17– 20, give a reason (as in Example 4) why each for the graph of the given function. Specify your results us-
graph cannot represent a polynomial function of degree 3. ing a sketch similar to Figure 16(a). In Exercises 31– 34,
17. y 18. y you will first need to factor the polynomial.
(b) Graph each function.
27. y ! (x " 2)(x " 1)(x # 1) 28. y ! (x " 3)(x # 2)(x # 1)
29. y ! 2x(x " 2)(x " 1) 30. y ! (x " 3)(x " 2)(x # 2)
31. y ! x 3 " 4x 2 " 5x 32. y ! x 3 " 9x
x x 33. y ! x 3 # 3x 2 " 4x " 12 34. y ! x 3 " 5x 2 " x # 5

In Exercises 35– 44:

(a) Determine the x- and y-intercepts and the excluded regions
for the graph of the given function. Specify your results us-
19. y 20. y
ing a sketch similar to Figure 16(a).
(b) Describe the behavior of the function at each x-intercept
x that corresponds to a repeated factor. Specify your results
using a sketch similar to the left-hand portion of Figure 20.
x (c) Graph each function.
35. y ! x 3(x # 2) 36. y ! (x " 1)(x " 4)2
3
37. y ! 2(x " 1)(x " 4) 38. y ! (x " 1)2(x " 4)2
39. y ! (x # 1) (x " 1)(x " 3) 40. y ! x 2(x " 4)(x # 2)
2
300 Chapter 4 Polynomial and Rational Functions. Applications to Optimization

41. y ! "x 3(x " 4)(x # 2) 42. y ! 4(x " 2)2(x # 2)3 50. y=x$-2≈-5
2
43. y ! "4x(x " 2) (x # 2) 3
44. y ! "3x 3(x # 1)4 4
45. This exercise refers to Example 1(a) in the text. Use Fig- 2
ure 5(b) to obtain the following estimates: on the interval
0
[0, 1.25], ¢g/¢x ! 4, and ¢f/¢x ! 2.
_2
B _4
46. (a) This exercise refers to Example 1(b), in which f(x) ! x 4 _6
and g(x) ! x 8. Show that on the interval [0, 1.25], we
_8
have ¢g/¢x ! 4.768 and ¢f/¢x ! 1.953. _2.5 _1 0 1 2.5
4 8
(b) Let f(x) ! x and g(x) ! x , as in part (a). Find a posi-
tive constant b so that on the interval [0, b], the aver-
age rate of change of g is 100 times the average rate of For Exercises 51 and 52:
change of f. Give two forms for the answer: an exact G (a) Use a graphing utility to draw a graph of each function.
expression and a decimal approximation rounded to G (b) For each x-intercept, zoom in until you can estimate it accu-
three decimal places. rately to the nearest one-tenth.
(c) Use algebra to determine each x-intercept. If an intercept
In Exercises 47–50, first use the graph to estimate the x-intercepts.
involves a radical, give that answer as well as a calculator
Then use algebra to determine each x-intercept. If an intercept in-
approximation rounded to three decimal places. Check to
volves a radical, give that answer as well as a calculator approxi-
see that your results are consistent with the graphical esti-
mation rounded to three decimal places. Be sure to check that
mates obtained in part (b).
your results are consistent with the initial graphical estimates.
51. N(t) ! t 7 # 8t 4 # 16t 52. W(u) ! 2u4 " 17u2 # 35
47. y=x _ 3x _ 5x
3 2

10
In Exercises 53–58, six functions are defined as follows:
f1x2 ! x g1x2 ! x2 h1x2 ! x3
0
F1x2 ! x4 G1x2 ! x5 H1x2 ! x6

_10 Refer also to the following figure.

y
_20
_3 _2 _1 0 1 2 3 4 5 (1, 1)
1
48. y=x$-36
10

_10

_20

_30

_40
_3 _2 _1 0 1 2 3

49. y=x#+6≈-3x-18
30
x
20 1
10
53. The six graphs in the figure are the graphs of the six given
0 functions for the interval [0, 1], but the graphs are not la-
beled. Which is which?
_10
54. For which x-values in [0, 1] will the graph of g lie strictly
_20 below the horizontal line y ! 0.1? Use a calculator to eval-
_7 _5 _3 _1 0 1 3
uate your answer. Round off the result to two significant
3 2
Hint: Factor x # 6x " 3x " 18 by grouping. figures.

55. Follow Exercise 54, using the function H instead of g.
56. Find a number t in [0, 1] such that the vertical distance be-
tween f(t) and g(t) is 1/4.
57. Is there a number t in [0, 1] such that the vertical distance
between g(t) and F(t) is 0.26?
58. Find all numbers t in [0, 1] such that F(t) ! G(t) # H(t).
59. The figure shows the graphs of y ! 4x and y ! x 2/100 in a
standard viewing rectangle.
(a) Do the graphs intersect anywhere other than at the
origin?
G (b) Use a graphing utility to support your answer in
part (a).
10
5
0
_5
_10
_10 0 10
y=4x and y=≈/ 100
[_10, 10, 5 ] by [_10, 10, 5 ]
60. (a) Factor the expression 4x 2 " x 4. Then use the tech-
niques explained in this section to graph the function
2 4
defined by y ! 4x " x .
(b) Find the coordinates of the turning points. Hint: As
in previous sections, use the substitution x 2 ! t.
61. (a) Graph the function D(x) ! x 2 " x 4.
(b) Find the turning points of the graph. (See the hint in
Exercise 60.)
2
(c) On the same set of axes, sketch the graphs of y ! x
and y ! x 4 for 0 $ x $ 1. What is the maximum verti-
cal distance between the graphs?
62. (a) An open-top box is to be constructed from a 6-by-8-in.
rectangular sheet of tin by cutting out equal squares at
each corner and then folding up the resulting flaps.
Let x denote the length of the side of each cutout
square. Show that the volume V(x) is
V1x2 ! x16 " 2x2 18 " 2x2
(b) What is the domain of the volume function in part (a)?
[The answer is not ("q, q).]
4.6 Polynomial Functions 301
G (c) Use a graphing utility to graph the volume function,
taking into account your answer in part (b).
G (d) By zooming in on the turning point, estimate to the
nearest one-hundredth the maximum volume.
63. The point P is in the first quadrant on the graph of
y ! 1 " x 4. From P, perpendiculars are drawn to the
x- and y-axes, thus forming a rectangle.
(a) Express the area of the rectangle as a function of a
single variable.
G (b) Use a graphing utility to graph the area function.
Then, using the ZOOM feature, estimate to the near-
est hundredth the maximum possible area for the
rectangle.
64. In Example 1 in Section 4.2 we used a graphing utility to
determine linear and quadratic functions to model the
AIDS data in Figure 2 on page 229. We then used these
models to make projections for the years 1992 and 1997.
For both models and both years we found that the projec-
tions were too low. We also saw that the quadratic projec-
tions were more accurate than the linear ones, as mea-
sured by percentage error.
G (a) Use a graphing utility to find a polynomial of degree 3
(a cubic model) that best fits the data in Figure 2 on
page 229.
(b) Use the cubic model to make projections for the cu-
mulative number of AIDS cases in 1992 and 1997.
(c) Are the projections higher or lower than the actual
figures given in Example 1 in Section 4.2? Compute
the percentage error for each projection. In each case,
which is the better predictor, the quadratic or the cubic
model?
C
65. (a) Show that for m and n positive integers with m % n
the following inequalities hold:
if 0 $ x $ 1 then 0 $ xn $ xm
and
if x & 1 then xm % xn
(b) Using part (a), explain why for m and n positive even
integers, with m % n, the graph of y ! xn lies below
the graph of y ! xm for "1 % x % 1 while the graph
of y ! xn lies above the graph of y ! xm for 0 x 0 & 1.
(c) Using part (a), explain why for m and n positive odd
integers, with m % n, the graph of y ! xn lies above
the graph of y ! xm for x & 1 and "1 % x % 0 and lies
below the graph of y ! xm for x % "1 and 0 % x % 1.