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| Question 128198:  Sketch the graph of f(x) = x^2-6x +8. Label all x-intercept, y-intercepts
 and the vertex.
 Answer by jim_thompson5910(35256)
      (Show Source): 
You can put this solution on YOUR website!  Start with the given function 
 
 To find the x-intercept, let
   
 
  Plug in   
 
 
 
  Factor the right side (note: if you need help with factoring, check out this solver) 
 
 
 Now set each factor equal to zero:
 
  or   
 
  or  Now solve for x in each case 
 
 
 So the x-intercepts are (2,0) and (4,0)
 
 
 
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 To find the y-intercept, plug in
   
 
 
  Start with the given function 
 
 
  Plug in   
 
 
  Raise 0 to the 2nd power to get 0 
 
 
  Multiply 1 and 0 to get 0 
 
 
  Multiply 6 and 0 to get 0 
 
 
  Subtract 0 from 0 to get 0 
 
 
  Add 0 and 8 to get 8 
 
 So when
  , we have   
 
 
 So this means that the y-intercept is (0,8)
 
 
 
 
 
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 To find the vertex, we first need to find the axis of symmetry (ie the x-coordinate of the vertex)
 To find the axis of symmetry, use this formula:
 
 
   
 From the equation
  we can see that a=1 and b=-6 
 
  Plug in b=-6 and a=1 
 
 
  Negate -6 to get 6 
 
 
  Multiply 2 and 1 to get 2 
 
 
 
  Reduce 
 
 So the axis of symmetry is
   
 
 So the x-coordinate of the vertex is
  . Lets plug this into the equation to find the y-coordinate of the vertex. 
 
 Lets evaluate
   
 
  Start with the given polynomial 
 
 
  Plug in   
 
 
  Raise 3 to the second power to get 9 
 
 
  Multiply 6 by 3 to get 18 
 
 
  Now combine like terms 
 
 So the vertex is (3,-1)
 
 
 
 
 So putting all of this together, we get
 
 
 
  Graph of   
 
 and we can see that the x-intercepts are (2,0) and (4,0), the graph has the y-intercept (0,8), and the vertex is (3,-1). So this visually verifies our answer.
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