SOLUTION: is y2=3x A FUNCTION

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Question 258299: is y2=3x A FUNCTION
Answer by Theo(13342) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
y^2 = 3x is not a function.

solve for y to get:

y = +/- sqrt(3x)

for it to be a function there has to be one and only one value of y for each value of x.

if there is at least one instance where there are more than 1 value of y for each value of x, then it is a relation and not a function.

you give the graph of this equation the vertical line test.

if the vertical line cuts through more than one point on the graph of the equation, then it is not a function.

graph of this equation is shown below:

graph+%28600%2C600%2C-10%2C10%2C-10%2C10%2Csqrt%283x%29%2C-sqrt%283x%29%29

on this graph, you can see that a vertical line passing through the graph of the equation will cut through the equation twice for each value of x at all points except at the vertex.