How do you find the domain and range of f(x)= sqrt(x^4-16x^2)?

1 Answer
Sep 25, 2015

Domain {x in RR, x=0, x>=4 or x<=-4}

Range {y in RR, y>=0}

Explanation:

Write f(x)= sqrt (x^2(x-4)(x+4))

For f(x) to be real , either x =0, or (x-4)(x+4) >=0

This implies that either both x-4 and x+4 should be>=0 or <=0
which means either x>=4 or x<=-4.

Hence domain would be {x in RR, x=0, x>=4 or x<=-4}. In iterval notation it would be (-oo,-4]U 0 U[4,oo)

For range it is clear that for x=0, y=0 and for x>=4 or x<=-4, y would be positive. Thus range would be {y in RR, y>=0}