How do you find the domain and range of sqrt(x^2-5x-14)?

1 Answer
Jul 20, 2017

(-oo, -2] U [7, oo)

Explanation:

Domain is the possible values for x.

The domain for the parent function , sqrtx is from 0 to oo, or [0, oo)
graph{y=sqrtx}

Notice how 0 is included. That's because sqrt0 is the lowest number that is possible. Any number smaller than 0 is negative, and a square root of a negative number craetes an unreal number (i), which we can't graph.

Long story short, we can't take the square rot of a negative number, so we stop at 0

Let's factor the quadratic and see the roots for x:

x^2-5x-14

We need to find 2 numbers that multiply to -14 and add to -5

color(white)(xx) + -5
color(white)(+) xx -14
.........................
+-1 xx +-14
color(red)(+-2 xx +-7)

-7+2 gives us -5, and -7 xx 2 equals -14

So, now we have sqrt((x+2)(x-7))

So, the rule with square roots is that the factors must be equal to or larger than 0

Let's solve for these roots and see what value of x makes everything equal 0

factor 1
x+2=0

x=-2

factor 2
x-7=0

x=7

Now we know that if x equals -2 or 7, we're taking a square root of 0. So, if x equals anything smaller than 7 or larger than -2, we would be taking a square root of a negative number.

So, our domain is "anything smaller than -2 and anything larger than 7", or (-oo, -2] U [7, oo)

To check our work, let's graph the equation:
graph{y=sqrt((x+2)(x-7))}

Yep! We were right.

The graph has no issues until -2 to 7. From those points, the graph is not possible