how is the graphing strategy used for this problem?
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Another way of writing this:

(x2+2x+1+3x-1)/(x2+2x+1).

So we get 1+[(3x-1)/(x2+2x+1)], which is the same as 1+[(3x-1)/(x+1)2].

Since the derivative of the constant 1 is zero we need only differentiate (3x-1)/(x+1)2:

(3(x+1)2-2(3x-1)(x+1))/(x+1)4, which can be written:

(3x+3-6x+2)/(x+1)3=(5-3x)/(x+1)3, because the factor x+1 is common to numerator and denominator.

The derivative can be used to find critical points on the graphed curve. The first point to note is that x=-1 is an asymptote, and when x is close to -1, x(5+x)/(x2+2x+1) becomes large and negative. When the derivative is zero, 5=3x, so x=5/3 is a turning point (5/3,25/16). Note that 25/16>1. When x=0 the graph passes through the origin from being negative so the behaviour of the curve is that it rises to a maximum when x=5/3. This is a critical point which helps to sketch the graph. At x=0 the derivative=5, which is the steep positive gradient of the curve as it passes through the origin. Note that there is no other turning point.

We also know that when x is large and positive or negative we can use the rewritten form of the graph: y=f(x)=1+[(3x-1)/(x+1)2] which gets closer to 1, because the term involving x gets smaller and smaller, so there is a horizontal asymptote y=1. This asymptote applies to both parts of the graph on either side of x=-1. Because the maximum was at (5/3,25/16), that is, higher than the asymptote at x=1, it indicates that the curve falls towards the asymptote, while the other part of the graph (x<-1) rises towards it as x gets more and more negative. There is no turning point here.

The derivative is part of the graphing strategy enabling you to sketch the curve.

by Top Rated User (1.2m points)

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