Name: ______________________

Date: __________________

How to Graph a Function Guided Notes

How Do We Graph?
For graphing quadratics what would be the most efficient way to graph a parabola from standard
form? (and why)
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Standard Form y=

What could happen if we select points randomly and try to graph a parabola?
______________________________________________________________________________

Here we selected 3 x-values. Found the points

they represent, but we cannot yet see the
parabola.

Points of Interest
Instead of choosing random points that may not give us a shape to our parabola, we will use 3
different special points.

Vertex
We know two ways to find our vertex
Vertex Form
 Axis of Symmetry
With _________________ you get the _____________ right away, while from using the
_____________ you will need to plug in the x-value you find in order to find the exact point.

X-Intercepts
Just like finding our vertex we can use _____________ form or _____________ to solve for x
when our y-value = ___________.
X-intercepts are great points as they already are _______________ points on the parabola.
Are the x-intercepts the best points for use? (and why)
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
While they are good we have possibilities of having 1 ________________ or 2
_________________.

Y-Intercepts
Unlike x-intercepts we are guaranteed a real valued ___________________.
Y-intercepts are similar to finding x-intercepts except we are using an x-value = ____________
and solving for y.
 Standard Form
Vertex Form
Between our two forms which will be easier to find our y-intercept? (and why)
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Standard form is the easiest to use to find our _______________. When we use x = 0, we are left
with just y = ______________.

Reflection
We mentioned the idea of the axis of symmetry and using it to find our ____________. The
vertex of a parabola will lie on the axis of _______________.
We discussed cases in which we have no real x-intercepts. Thus, we will only be left with the
______________ and __________________.
Can we graph with only these two points? (and why)
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
We can graph a function only having these 2 points, we can _____________ our y-intercept and
this gives us enough points to graph the curve.

Example 1
Let us put our steps into action for the function: 𝑦 = 𝑥 2 + 2𝑥 + 1
We will go step by step to get all of our points to graph our function.
Vertex: Convert from standard from to vertex form (Hint try factoring or completing the square)
Scratch work:

Vertex form:
Vertex:
Axis of symmetry:
X-Intercepts:
We have our vertex form and can use y = 0 to solve for x.
Scratch work:

X-intercepts:

Y-Intercepts:
We can go back to our standard form equation in order to solve for our y-intercept. Using x = 0,
solve for y.
Scratch work:

Y-intercept:
Reflect the y-intercept
Scratch work:

Reflected point:
Now we can Graph our Function
Vertex:
X-int:
Y-int:
Reflected Point:

Khan Academy Example

Function: y = __________________
Scratch work:
X-int:
Vertex: