blackops23
Member
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2010
- Messages
- 428
- Gender
- Male
- HSC
- 2011
Hi guys, I've just come across a graph which I'm curious about and I'd like to know why it possesses an incredibly strange property - the actual graph itself is its "asymptotes" - or maybe not.
Here's the graph: x^2 - 3xy + y^2 = 0 ----- (1)
Now here's what I did in an attempt to sketch it:
------------------------------------
y' = (3y - 2x)/(2y - 3x)
2y-3x --> 0, y' --> infinity (i.e. vertical tangent)
y=3x/2 , sub in ---(1)
Therefore vertical tangent at x=0, (0,0
3y-2x=0, y' = 0, (turning points)
y=2x/3, sub in ---(1)
Therefore turning point at (0,0)
But you can't have a vertical tangent and a turning point at one distinct point.
Then I realised that when you sub in x=0, y=0, in y', y'=0/0, therefore there's an indeterminable gradient at (0,0)
So I went on to find the asymptotes:
x^2 - 3xy + y^2 = 0
[divide by x^2]
1 - (3y/x) + (y^2/x^2) = 0
Completing the square:
1- (2.25) + (y/x - 1.5)^2 = 0
therefore:
(y/x - 1.5)^2 = 1.25 = 5/4
(y/x) - 1.5 = root(5)/2
therefore asymptotes are:
y= [(3 + sqrt(5))/ 2]x which is approximately y=2.5(x), i.e the GRADIENT of the line is = [3 + sqrt(5)]/2 = approx. 2.6
and
y= [(3 - sqrt(5))/2]x which is approximately y=x, i.e .e the GRADIENT of the line is = [3 - sqrt(5)]/2 = approx.
--------------------------------------------------
So now I had the asymptotes...But nothing else...
So I gave up and sketched it on my graphing software, and the graph was two straight lines intersecting at (0,0), but the strange thing was that these lines were the asymptotes I had found...
But then that means the lines I found aren't really asymptotes. So I want to know, what on earth did I do wrong, and what would have YOU DONE to sketch this graph??
Thanks guys. =)
Here's the graph: x^2 - 3xy + y^2 = 0 ----- (1)
Now here's what I did in an attempt to sketch it:
------------------------------------
y' = (3y - 2x)/(2y - 3x)
2y-3x --> 0, y' --> infinity (i.e. vertical tangent)
y=3x/2 , sub in ---(1)
Therefore vertical tangent at x=0, (0,0
3y-2x=0, y' = 0, (turning points)
y=2x/3, sub in ---(1)
Therefore turning point at (0,0)
But you can't have a vertical tangent and a turning point at one distinct point.
Then I realised that when you sub in x=0, y=0, in y', y'=0/0, therefore there's an indeterminable gradient at (0,0)
So I went on to find the asymptotes:
x^2 - 3xy + y^2 = 0
[divide by x^2]
1 - (3y/x) + (y^2/x^2) = 0
Completing the square:
1- (2.25) + (y/x - 1.5)^2 = 0
therefore:
(y/x - 1.5)^2 = 1.25 = 5/4
(y/x) - 1.5 = root(5)/2
therefore asymptotes are:
y= [(3 + sqrt(5))/ 2]x which is approximately y=2.5(x), i.e the GRADIENT of the line is = [3 + sqrt(5)]/2 = approx. 2.6
and
y= [(3 - sqrt(5))/2]x which is approximately y=x, i.e .e the GRADIENT of the line is = [3 - sqrt(5)]/2 = approx.
--------------------------------------------------
So now I had the asymptotes...But nothing else...
So I gave up and sketched it on my graphing software, and the graph was two straight lines intersecting at (0,0), but the strange thing was that these lines were the asymptotes I had found...
But then that means the lines I found aren't really asymptotes. So I want to know, what on earth did I do wrong, and what would have YOU DONE to sketch this graph??
Thanks guys. =)
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