Thread: Horizontal And Vertical Translations

When you alter a graph, you transform it. If you transform a graph without changing its shape, you translate it. Vertical and horizontal transformations are translations. When y = f(x) + d, shift (translate) the graph of y = f(x) vertically (upward if d > 0, downward if d < 0).

Example: 1. Problem: Translate y = x2 upward by 1. Solution: You have been asked to shift the graph upward 1. Rewrite the equation to do this, and then graph. y = x2 + 1 The figure below is a graph of the solution.


When y = f(x + c), translate the graph of y = f(x) horizontally (left if c > 0, right if c < 0).

Example: 2. Problem: Sketch the graph of y = |x + 2|. Solution: First, graph y = |x|, then shift it to the left 2 places. The figure below is a graph of the solution.

I saw this online and i was wondering how can you tell if it's a Horizontal Translation or Vertical one? If so, what are usually these translation used for?

Suppose you have a function Vertical translations look like : they correspond to a shifting of the range of a function, or its output. Horizontal translations look like : they correspond to a shifting of the domain of a function, or its input.

There are a few functions where you can't tell the difference between the two translations: straight lines, for example: could be viewed either way. Or, if you had a slope of then the line could have a positive vertical translation of from the line , or it could be viewed as in which case it's a horizontal translation of to the left.

I'll give you one application of translations: modeling switches in electrical circuits. The Heaviside step function is defined as



I can think of a switch turning on when I start a clock timer at as the function . But now, suppose I want to flip a switch for one second, and then switch it back off? I could model that as a horizontally translated difference of step functions: We might want to model that if we're trying to solve the differential equation governing the behavior of the circuit.

Thank you very much and it was detailed =D

You're welcome. Have a good one!