SOLUTION: Prove that the graph {{{f(x)=kx^2-2kx-x^2+2x+k-1}}} touches the x-axis for all values of k except k=1

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Question 1135103: Prove that the graph f%28x%29=kx%5E2-2kx-x%5E2%2B2x%2Bk-1 touches the x-axis for all values of k except k=1
Answer by Theo(13342) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
i t hink this should do it.

start with kx^2 - 2kx - x^2 + 2x + k - 1 = f(x)

set f(x) = 0 and rearrange the terms with like terms next to each other and in descending order of degree to get:

kx^2 - 2kx + k - x^2 + 2x - 1 = 0

group the terms as shown below:

(kx^2 - 2kx + k) - (x^2 - 2x + 1) = 0

factor out the k in the left goruping to get:

k * (x^2 - 2x + 1) - (x^2 - 2x + 1) = 0

factor out the (x^2 - 2x + 1) to get:

(x^2 - 2x + 1) * (k - 1) = 0

divide both sides of the equation by k-1 to get:

(x^2 - 2x + 1) = 0 / (k - 1)

factor the left side of the equation to get:

(x - 1)^2 = 0 / (k - 1)

the right side of the equation will be equal to 0 for all values of k except 1.

the equation is undefined when k = 1 because 0 / 0 is undefined.

for all values of k except 1, the equation becomes (x-1)^2 = 0 because 0 divided by anything except 0 is equal to 0.

take the square root of both sides of the equation to get plus or minus (x-1) = 0

this makes x = plus or minus 1.

the roots of the equation will be x = plus or minus 1 for all values of k except k = 1.

if you graph the equation of y = (x-1)^2 * (k-1) for different values of k, then you will get a quadratic equation except for k = 1 where you will get a horizontal line at y = 0.

if you divide both sides of the equation by (k-1), you will graph y/(k-1) = (x-1)^2 and get a graph of a quadratic equation for all values of k except 1 and you will not get a graph at all for k = 1 because the software doesn't know what to do with y/0 since it is undefined.

here's a couple of graphs of y = (x-1)^2 * (k-1) for k = 2 and k = 1 followed by a couple of graphs of y/(k-1) = (x-1)^2 for k = 2 and k = 1.

when k = 1, (k-1) = 1
when k = 1, (k-1) = 0

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