sat suite question viewer

Advanced Math / Nonlinear functions Difficulty: Hard

h of x equals, 2 times, open parenthesis, x minus 4, close parenthesis, squared, minus 32

The quadratic function h is defined as shown. In the xy-plane, the graph of y equals, h of x intersects the x-axis at the points with coordinates 0 comma 0 and t comma 0, where t is a constant. What is the value of t ?

Back question 2 of 229 Next

Explanation

Choice D is correct. It’s given that the graph of y equals, h of x intersects the x-axis at the point with coordinates 0 comma 0 and the point with coordinates t comma 0 , where t is a constant. Since this graph intersects the x-axis when y equals 0 or when h of x equals 0, it follows that h of 0 equals 0 and h of t equals 0. If h of t equals 0, then 0 equals, 2 times, open parenthesis, t minus 4, close parenthesis, squared, minus 32. Adding 32 to both sides of this equation yields 32 equals, 2 times, open parenthesis, t minus 4, close parenthesis, squared. Dividing both sides of this equation by 2 yields 16 equals, open parenthesis, t minus 4, close parenthesis, squared. Taking the square root of both sides of this equation yields 4 equals, t minus 4. Adding 4 to both sides of this equation yields 8 equals t. Therefore, the value of t is 8.

Choices A, B, and C are incorrect and may result from calculation errors.