How do you graph f(x)= x/(x+3)?

1 Answer
Jul 28, 2015

graph{1-3/(x+3) [-10, 10, -15, 15]}

Explanation:

First of all, we see that the function is not defined at x=-3. In fact, there is a vertical asymptote at this point since the denominator tends to 0 as x->-3, while the numerator is around a constant -3.

More than that, as x->-3 from the right (that is, while it's greater than -3), the sign of the function is negative since the numerator is around -3 and denominator is positive, so the function tends to negative infinity -oo.
If x->-3 from the left (that is, while it's smaller than -3), the sign of the function is positive since the numerator is around -3 and denominator is negative, so the function tends to positive infinity +oo.

Continuing analysis, we can see that, as x->+oo or as x->-oo, the value of the function tends to 1 since both numerator and denominator will increase to +oo or decrease to -oo with the same speed.

Now about constructing a graph.
The easiest way is to transform our function as follows:
y=x/(x+3)=(x+3-3)/(x+3)=(x+3)/(x+3)-3/(x+3)=1-3/(x+3)

So, we have to graph y=1-3/(x+3).
According to the rules of graph transformation (seeUnizor - Algebra - Graph) we can construct this graph in the following steps:

Step 1. Graph y=1/x

graph{1/x [-10, 10, -15, 15]}

Step 2. Shift it to the left by 3 to graph y=1/(x+3)

graph{1/(x+3) [-10, 10, -15, 15]}

Step 3. Stretch it vertically by a factor of 3 getting the graph of y=3/(x+3)

graph{3/(x+3) [-10, 10, -15, 15]}

Step 4. Invert the graph (positive - to negative, negative - to positive), thus getting the graph of y=-3/(x+3)

graph{-3/(x+3) [-10, 10, -15, 15]}

Step 5. Finally, shift the graph up by 1 to get y=1-3/(x+3):

graph{1-3/(x+3) [-10, 10, -15, 15]}