How do you graph $y = x^2 - 4$ ?

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Answer 1 · 2018-05-25T16:26:32

Parent function shifted down 4.

The parent function is:

$y=x^2$

graph{x^2 [-10, 10, -5, 5]}

The shift is as follows:

$y = a(x-h)^2 + k$

a = stretch
h = horizontal shift
k vertical shift

your function is:

$y = x^2 - 4$

$a = 1$ , no stretch

$h=0$ , no horizontal shift

$k=-4$ , shifted down 4 units, here is the adjusted graph:

graph{x^2 -4 [-10, 10, -5, 5]}

How do you graph y = x^2 - 4 y = x^2 - 4?