What is the domain of g(x) = (x+5)/(3x^2+23x-36) in set notation?
1 Answer
Explanation:
The domain of a function represents the possible input values, i.e. values of
Notice that your function is actually a fraction that has two rational expressions as its numerator and denominator, respectively.
As you know, a fraction that has a denominator equal to
3x^2 + 23x - 36 = 0
will not be part of the domain of the function. This quadratic equation can be solved by using the quadratic formula, which for a generic quadratic equation
color(blue)(ul(color(black)(ax^2 + bx + c = 0)))
looks like this
color(blue)(ul(color(black)(x_(1,2) = (-b + -sqrt(b^2 - 4 * a * c))/(2 * a)))) -> the quadratic formula
In your case, you have
{(a = 3), (b = 23), (c = -36) :}
Plug in your values to find
x_(1,2) = (-23 +- sqrt( 23^2 + 4 * 3 * (-36)))/(2 * 3)
x_(1,2) = (-23 +- sqrt(961))/6
x_(1,2) = (-23 +- 31)/ 6 implies {(x_1 = (-23 - 31)/6 = -9), (x_2 = (-23 + 31)/6 = 4/3) :}
So, you know that when
x = -9" " or" " x = 4/3
the denominator is equal to
This means that the domain of the function in set notation will be
{ x in RR | x < -9 or -9 < x < 4/3 or x > 4/3}
graph{(x+5)/(3x^2 + 23x - 36) [-14.24, 14.23, -7.12, 7.12]}
As you can see from the graph, the function is not defined for
Alternatively, you can write the domain as
x in RR "\" {-9, 4/3}
In interval notation, the domain would look like this
x in (-oo, - 9) uu (-9, 4/3) uu (4/3, + oo)