Question

which direction does the following parabola open y= 3x2+ 4x +5

Answer 1

Polynomials tend towards the behavior of their leading term. The reasoning is that as you put larger values of x in for, say, 3x^2 in this case, you get larger values faster than in 4x.

Answer 2

if the leading coefficient is positive then it's upwards
if it is negative then it is downwards

Answer 3

leading coefficient is the coefficient of variable with the highest order or exponent

Answer 4

Okay, thank you both! I appreciate it!

Answer 5

one manual way to check is to plot values

Answer 6

In general you look at the coefficien of highest degree term