How do you find the intercepts, asymptotes and graph f(x)=5^x-2?

1 Answer
Dec 6, 2015

This function is simply 5^x shifted downwards of 2 units. So, the only asymptote is y=-2 (since the original one was y=0) as x\to-\infty.

As for the intercepts: the y intercept is found by setting x=0, and you have 5^0-2 = 1-2=-1.
The x intercept is found by setting f(x)=y=0, and you have

5^x-2=0 \iff 5^x=2 \iff x=log_5(2).

As I already said, the graph of this function is simply the graph of 5^x shifted downwards of 2 units.