Graphing Polynomial Functions Guide

Today, you guys will use what weve learned so far to graph polynomial functions. Specifically, the two pieces of information you need to consider will be the end behavior of a function and the roots. There are other things we could consider (like where exactly the vertices are), but we wont get into that today.

End Behavior Reminder:

To determine the end behavior of a function, you ONLY need to look at the term with the largest exponent. If that exponent is even, the ends have to go in the same direction if its odd, they have to go in different directions. Then, look at the coefficient. If that leading coefficient is positive, the function will face up, if its negative, it will face down. Remember, if you have an odd exponent, up means the function starts down at and ends at on the right. (Graph = so you can see what I mean.)

Roots Reminder:

To find the roots of a function, we use the rational root test that we did last class period. Once youve established what the POSSIBLE rational roots are, you will use synthetic division (or long division if you REALLY, REALLY want to. >.>). If you get a remainder of zero, that is a root. Continue that until youve found all of the rational roots. An important note: This technique ONLY gives you the rational roots. That means if you
cant pull any other roots out, the remaining roots are either irrational (like 2) or imaginary (like 5). But, you really wouldnt know which they would be. So, this limits what you can figure out through graphing. But, its good enough for now.

Multiplicity Reminder:
When youre looking at a polynomial that has been factored, look at the coefficients. The larger the coefficient, the wider the butt. An even coefficient will have it sit on that point and an odd coefficient will pass through that point. Heres an example. = ( + 2)4 ( 3)2 ( + 5)3 ( 6). You can see in the graph that at 6, the graph passes straight through, and at 3, the graph sits there. At 2, its a little hard to see since the next root is so close, but if you zoomed in, youd see it actually sat on the graph for a second (well, a long second, since its to a pretty high power), before passing through at 5. Because the 5 has a higher multiplicity, it spends a little longer there.

Example 1:
Lets look at #1 on your classwork, 4 3 3 15 2 + 19 + 30. End Behavior: The highest exponent is an even number (4), so this guy will have both his arms going in the same direction. Because the leading coefficient there is a positive 1, both arms will be facing up towards .

Roots: My possible roots would be 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 15, 30. Lots to choose from. Im a pretty simple person, so Im going to start with something simple and go from there (sorry the formatting is weird. Word apparently doesnt care for synthetic division): 1| 1 3 15 19 30 1 2 17 2 1 2 17 2 32 2| 1 3 15 19 30 2 2 34 30 1 1 17 15 0

That definitely didnt work

Bingo! We now have a root, what we have so far is: ( 2)( 3 2 17 15) Lets pull something else out 3| 1 1 17 15 3 6 33 1 2 11 48

Thats not it. I think Id like to do smaller numbers first before I get too carried away with bigger numbers. 1| 1 1 17 15 1 2 15 1 2 15 0

Each of them only happens once (we dont have any exponents for any of the factors there, multiplicity = 1), so they all just pass through the axis. And, we know both arms should end facing up. Here is the graph (on the next page) : = 4 3 3 15 2 + 19 + 30

So, our roots are: = 3, 1, 2, 5.

Im just going to factor that last part without using synthetic division: ( 2)( + 1)( 5)( + 3)

Got it!! So now, what we have is: ( 2)( + 1)( 2 2 15)

Example 2:

First, a look at the end behavior. The highest exponent is odd (the 5), so the ends of the function will go in opposite directions. Since the first coefficient is positive, its going to start down at and end up at . To get the roots, we use the rational root theorem. We would have possible roots of: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24

Im going to look at number 2 on your classwork: 5 + 5 4 3 3 29 2 + 2 + 24.

All of these have a multiplicity of 1 (none of them is repeated and none of them has an exponent), so all of them will pass quickly through the axis without lingering or sitting. Remember as youre drawing this to start at since the highest exponent was negative and the leading coefficient was positive. My suggestion is to mark all the intercepts on the graphs too, and then when you graph it, just make sure you pass through each one. So, heres what Im suggesting (on the left). When you finish, you should get something similar to the graph to the right.

Im not going to do the synthetic division here, because quite frankly, its a pain to type it all out. Once you do it, you should get: = ( 2)( 1)( + 1)( + 3)( + 4)