GENERAL MATHEMATICS

Module 3, Lesson 8: Graphing Rational Functions

I. Overview:
 This lesson will demonstrate an understanding of key concepts of functions.
II. Objectives:
 Determines the: (a) intercepts; (b) zeroes; and (c)
asymptotes of rational functions.
 Solves problems involving rational functions,
equations, and inequalities.
III. Content Outline:
 Please take time to read and understand this part
because all graded activities and quizzes will be
coming from these contents.

Recall:

(a) The domain of a function is the set of all values that the variable x can take.
(b) The range of the function is the set of all values that f(x) will take.
(c) The zeroes of a function are the values of x which make
the function zero. The real numbered zeroes are also x-
intercepts of the graph of the function.
(d) The y-intercept is the function value when x=0.

RATIONAL FUNCTIONS
p(x )
 If p(x ) and q (x) are polynomials with no common factor and f (x)= for q ( x) ≠ 0,
q (x)
then f (x) is called a rational function.
x−1
Example 1. Represent the rational function given by f (x)= using a table of values
x +1
and plot a graph of the function by connecting points.
Solution. Since we are now considering functions in general, we can find function
values across more values of x. Let us construct a table of values for some x-values from -10
to 10:

x -10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10
f(x) 1.22 1.29 1.4 1.67 3 -1 0.33 0.6 0.71 0.78 0.82

Plotting the points on a Cartesian plane and connecting the points on this graph, we get:

D K
I J
C H
A B G

F
 Why would the graph unexpectedly break the smooth curve and jump from point E to F? The
answer is that it doesn’t! let us take a look at the function again:
x−1
f (x)=
x +1
Observe that the function will be undefined at x=−1. That means that there cannot be a line
connecting point E and point F as this line implies that there is a point in the graph of the function
where x=−1 which is called the vertical asymptotes.

ASYMPTOTE
 An asymptote is a line or curve that approaches a given curve arbitrarily closely
 In analytic geometry, an asymptote of a curve is a line such that the distance
between the curve and the line approaches zero as one or both of the x or y
coordinates tends to infinity.
VERTICAL ASYMPTOTES
 The vertical line x=a is a vertical asymptote of the graph of f if f (x) →+ ∞ or f (x) →−∞
as x → a either from the right or the left.
HORIZONTAL ASYMPTOTES
 The horizontal line y=b is a horizontal asymptote of the graph of f if f (x) →b as x →+ ∞
or x →−∞.
Finding the Vertical and Horizontal Asymptotes of a Rational Functions
Let f be the rational function

p( x) an x n  an 1 x n 1  ...  a1 x  a0
f ( x)  
q ( x) bm x m  bm 1 x m 1  ..  b1 x  b0

Where an  0 and bm  0 , p(x) and q (x) have no common factors.

1. The graph of f has vertical asymptotes at the zeros of q(x) .

2. The graph of f has at most one horizontal asymptote which varies with the degree
of p(x) and q (x) .

a) If n < m , the graph of f has the line y  0 (the x-axis) as a horizontal

asymptote.
an
y
b) If n  m , the graph of f has the line bm as a horizontal asymptote, where
an is the leading coefficient of the numerator and bm is the leading coefficient of the
denominator.

c) If n > m , the graph of f has no horizontal asymptote.

Example 2. Find the horizontal and vertical asymptote for each rational function.
x 1
f ( x)  2
A. x 4
 Solution. For this rational function, the degree of the numerator is less than the
degree of the denominator, so the graph has the line y  0 as a horizontal asymptote.
To find any vertical asymptote, set the denominator equal to zero and solve the
resulting equation for x.

x2  4  0
( x  2)( x  2)  0

x  2  0 or x  2  0

This equation has two real solutions, x  2 and x  2 , so the graph has lines x  2
and x  2 as a vertical asymptote.
3x  1
f ( x) 
B. x2

Solution. For this rational function, the degree of the numerator is equal to the
degree of the denominator. Leading coefficient of the numerator is 3 and the leading
coefficient of the denominator is 1, so the graph has the line y  3 as a horizontal
asymptote. To find any vertical asymptote, set the denominator equal to zero and solve
for resulting equation for x.
x20

This equation has x  2 as its solution, so the graph has the line x  2 as vertical
asymptote.

Each rational function in Example 5 has horizontal and vertical asymptotes. Some
rational functions hav a nonhorizontal line for an asymptote. An asymptote that neither
horizontal nor vertical is called an oblique asymptote.

OBLIQUE ASYMPTOTE

 Let f be the rational function

p( x) an x n  an 1 x n 1  ...  a1 x  a0
f ( x)  
q ( x) bm x m  bm 1 x m1  ...  b1 x  b0

where an  0 and bm  0 , p(x) and q(x) have no common factors. If n  m  1 ,

use division to rewrite the function as
remainder
quotient 
divisor .

The graph of f has the line y = quotient as oblique asymptote.

x2  3
f ( x) 
Example 3. Determine all the asymptote of x4 .

Solution. For this rational function, the degree of the numerator is greater than the
degree of the denominator, so the graph has no horizontal asymptote. To find any vertical
asymptote, set the denominator equal to zero and solve the resulting equation for x.
x40
x  4
 So the graph has the line x  4 as its vertical asymptote. Since the degree of the
numerator is one more than the degree of the denominator, we will use long division to
remainder
quotient 
rewrite the function as divisor .

x4 quotient
x  4 x  0x  3
2

x2  4
 4x  3
 4 x  16
19

x2  3 19
 ( x  4) 
Therefore, x  4 x  4 and the graph of f has line y  x  4 as oblique
asymptote.

Example 4. Sketch the graph of the rational functions given in Example 5 and state
the domain and range.
x 1
f ( x) 
A. x2  4

Domain= {x: x is all real numbers except for -2 and 2}

Range= {y: y is all real numbers except 0}

Table of values
x <-2

x -4 -3.5 -3 -2.5 -2
y -0.25 -0.303 -0.4 -0.666 error

-2< x <2

x -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5

y 0.2857 0 -0.133 -0.25 -0.4 -0.666 -1.428

x >2

x 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
y error 1.5555 0.8 0.5454 0.4166
 x2  3
f ( x) 
Example 5. Sketch the graph of the rational function x  4 given in Example 6
and state the domain and range.
Domain= {x: x is all real numbers except -4}
Range= {y: y consist of all real numbers}

Guidelines for Graphing Rational Functions

p ( x)
f ( x) 
Let q( x) where p(x) and q (x) are polynomials with no common factors

where q ( x)  0 .
 1. Find and plot the y- intercept, if any, by evaluating f (0) .
2. Find the zeros of the numerator, if any, by setting the numerator equal to
zero. Then, plot the x-intercepts.
3. Find the zeros of the denominator, if any, by setting the denominator equal to
zero. Then, sketch the corresponding vertical asymptotes using dashed vertical lines.
4. Find and sketch any other asymptotes of the graph using dashed lines.
5. Plot at least one point between and one point beyond each x-intercept and
vertical asymptote.
6. Use smooth curves to complete the graph between and beyond the vertical
asymptotes, excluding any points where f is not defined.

x3
f ( x) 
Example 6. Sketch the graph of 2 x and state the domain and range.

Solution. We follow the guidelines given.

y-intercept: none since f (0) does not exist; x  0 is not in the domain

x-intercept: (3,0) since x  3  0

Vertical asymptote: x  0 which is the zero of the denominator

1
y
Horizontal asymptote: 2 since the degree of the numerator is equal to the
degree of the denominator
Additional points:
x -5 -1 1 4
y 0.2 -1 2 0.88

x2  2x  3
f ( x) 
Example 7. Sketch the graph of x 1 and state the domain and range.
 Sulotion: First write f (x) in two different ways. Factoring the numerator,
x 2  2 x  3 ( x  3)( x  1)
f ( x)  
x 1 x 1
Will give us the x-intercepts. Since the degree of the numerator is one more than the
x2  2x  3 4
f ( x)   ( x  1) 
degree of the denominator, we use long division to get x 1 x 1 .

Hence, the line y  x  1 is an oblique asymptote.

y -intercept: (0,3) since f (0)  3

x -intercepts: (1,0) and (3,0)

Vertical asymptote: x  1 which is the zero of the denominator

Horizontal asymptote: none since the degree of the numerator is greater than the
degree of the denominator

Oblique asymptote: y  x 1

Additional points:

x -2 0.5 2 4
y -1.67 7.5 -3 1.67

IV. Activities:

x 2−5
Find the horizontal asymptote of f ( x )= .
x 2−10 x+ 25

 Y-intercept:
 Zeroes:
 Vertical asymptote:
 Horizontal asymptote:
 Domain:
 Range:
V. Assignment:
 x−5
Find the horizontal asymptotes of f ( x )= 2
x −8 x+ 12

 Y-intercept:
 Zeroes:
 Vertical asymptote:
 Horizontal asymptote:
 Domain:
 Range: