Skip to main content
OlympiadHQ

Browse · MATH

Print

jmc

algebra senior

Problem

Compute the domain of the function

Solution
The discriminant of the quadratic is , so the quadratic has no real roots and is always positive for real inputs. The function is undefined if , which since the quadratic is always positive is equivalent to .

To find when , we switch to and factor as , so or . The new quadratic is negative between these points, so the quadratic is less than between these points, which makes the function undefined. So the domain of is
Final answer
(-\infty,-2] \cup [-1,\infty)