Carcass wrote:
The table below provides values of quadratic function f for some values x. Which of the following equations could define f(x)?
Attachment:
GRe The table below.jpg
(A) \(f(x) = x^2 + x - 1 \)
(B) \(f(x) = x^2 - 1\)
(C) \(f(x) = -x^2 + x + 1 \)
(D) \(f(x) = -x^2 + 1\)
(E) \(f(x) = x^2 - x + 1 \)
Let's eliminate answers choices by plugging easy-to-work-with numbers into each function.
For example, the table tells us that f(0) = 1, so let's plug x = 0 into each function and eliminate those that don't evaluate to 1.
We get:
(A) \(f(0) = 0^2 + 0 - 1 =-1\). Eliminate
(B) \(f(0) = 0^2 - 1 = -1\). Eliminate
(C) \(f(0) = -(0^2) + 0 + 1 = 1\). Keep
(D) \(f(0) = -(0^2) + 1 = 1\). Keep
(E) \(f(0) = 0^2 - 0 + 1 = 1\). Keep
The table also tells us that, when f(1) = 0, so let's plug x = 1 into each remaining function and eliminate those that don't evaluate to 0.
We get:
(C) \(f(1) = -(1^2) + 1 + 1 = 1 \). Eliminate
(D) \(f(1) = -(1^2) + 1 = 0\). Keep
(E) \(f(1) = 1^2 - 1 + 1 = 1\). Eliminate
By the process of elimination, the correct answer is D