Pearson Algebra 2 Common Core, 2011
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Pearson Algebra 2 Common Core, 2011 View details
Concept Byte: Quadratic Inequalities
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Exercise 7 Page 257

What does the absolute value of a real number represent? What does an absolute value inequality imply?

See solution.

Practice makes perfect

There are many ways to solve the given inequality. We will discuss how to do this algebraically and graphically.

Algebraic Method

Recall that the absolute value of a real number, a, expressed as |a|, is the distance between a and 0 on the number line. Therefore, the inequality |- 3x+4|>0 will be true for all values of x for which -3 x+4 ≠ 0. We can solve for the value of x for which -3x+4 = 0, and exclude that value to find the solution set.
-3x+4 = 0
-3x = -4
x = 4/3

Therefore, all the real numbers except for x = 43 will satisfy the inequality.

Graphic Method

Now, we want to use graph the function y =|-3x+4| to solve the given inequality. We will use a table of values. When using this method, we need to choose appropriate values of x. We will take the x-coordinate of the vertex and two other values, one to the left and one to the right of the vertex.

Identifying the Vertex

The x-coordinate of the vertex of an absolute value equation is always the value of x which makes the expression inside the absolute value equal to 0. Let's take a look at the expression inside the absolute value for the given equation. -3 x+4 = 0 ⇔ x = 4/3

Graphing the Equation

Now we can make the table of values.

x y=|-3 x+4| Simplify y
0 y=|-3 ( 0)+4| |0+4| 4
4/3 y=|-3 ( 4/3)+4| |- 4+4| 0
2 y=|-3 ( 2)+4| |-6 + 4| 2

We can plot these ordered pairs on a coordinate plane and connect them to get the graph of the equation.

We can see that all the x-values except for x= 43 make the function y=|-3x+4| greater than 0, satisfying the inequality |-3 x+4|>0.