How do you find the asympotes for f (x)= (5x-1)/(x^2 + 9)f(x)=5x1x2+9?

1 Answer
Jul 10, 2015

This one has only a horizontal asymptote.

Explanation:

The vertical asymptote would happen if the numerator would go to =0=0. Since x^2x2 is always non-negative, the numerator will always be at least 99

The horizontal asymptote can be found by making xx larger and larger. The +1+1 and -99 then make less and less of a difference and the whole thing will tend to look like:
(5x)/x^2~~5/x5xx25x
As xx gets larger 5/x5x gets smaller, or:

lim_(x->+-oo) f(x)=0

In fact this is not a real asymptote, as the value of f(x)=0 is also reached when 5x-1=0->x=1/5 (see graph)
graph{(5x-1)/(x^2+9) [-10, 10, -5, 5]}