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Mathematics 10 Online
OpenStudy (anonymous):

What are the x and y-intercepts of 2/(x^2-2x-3)?

OpenStudy (tkhunny):

y-intercepts, substitute x = 0 x-intercepts, substitute y = 0

OpenStudy (anonymous):

Okay, thanks.

OpenStudy (tkhunny):

Did you get an x-intercept?

OpenStudy (anonymous):

No, I got a y-intercept though.

OpenStudy (anonymous):

-2/3

OpenStudy (tkhunny):

Perfect. Good work.

OpenStudy (anonymous):

I'm confused on the x-intercept.

OpenStudy (anonymous):

I keep getting 2=0.

OpenStudy (tkhunny):

Well, taht is why I asked. I thouhgt you might be. \(2 \ne 0\) Done!

OpenStudy (anonymous):

So what is the intercept?

OpenStudy (tkhunny):

If you get nonsense, and you made no errors, then you started with nonsense. In this case, we were hoping for an x-intercept, so we attempted to substitute y = 0. When we did that, we ended up with 2 = 0. Since that makes absolutely no sense, we are done. Substituting y = 0 was not acceptable and this function does NOT intersect the x-axis.

OpenStudy (anonymous):

Oh, thanks!

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