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algebra intermediate
Problem
In the graph of , let be the number of holes in the graph, be the number of vertical asympotes, be the number of horizontal asymptotes, and be the number of oblique asymptotes. Find .
Solution
We can factor the numerator and denominator to get In this representation we can immediately see that there is a hole at , and vertical asymptotes at and . There are no more holes or vertical asymptotes, so and . If we cancel out the common factors we have We can now see that as becomes very large, the term in the denominator dominates and the graph tends towards , giving us a horizontal asymptote. Since the graph cannot have more than one horizontal asymptote, or a horizontal asymptote and a slant asymptote, we have that and . Therefore,
Final answer
8