sat suite question viewer
The graph of is shown, where , and , , and are constants. For how many values of does ?
Explanation
Choice D is correct. Each point on the graph of in the xy-plane gives a value of and its corresponding value of , or . For any value of for which , there is a corresponding point on the graph of with a y-coordinate of . A point with a y-coordinate of is a point where the graph intersects the x-axis. It's given that , where , , and are constants. In the xy-plane, the graph of an equation of this form will lie entirely either above or below the horizontal line defined by . The part of the graph of shown lies entirely below the horizontal line defined by , and thus the entire graph of must lie below the line defined by . It follows that the graph of will never intersect the x-axis. Therefore, there are zero values of x for which .
Choice A is incorrect and may result from conceptual errors.
Choice B is incorrect and may result from conceptual errors.
Choice C is incorrect and may result from conceptual errors.