Transformations of a Quadratic

by Amy Benson

Given the quadratic equation

which has the following graph

I want to replace x with x - 4. In order to clearing see the affect of this replacement before I graph the resulting equation, I will rewrite my original equation in graphing form:

Now, I replace x with x - 4.

So,

It is clear to see that replacing x with x - 4 will result in a horizontal translation (4 units) of the original equation. The translation vector is <4,0>.

By overlaying the graphs, we confirm that the new graph is a horizontal translation of the original graph.

To move the graph of the original equation to the second quadrant, click here.

To change the equation to produce a graph concave down that shares the same vertex, click here.

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