Math Help - Roots-in-tables Problem

1. Roots-in-tables Problem

Okay, I'm in Precal at the moment. Senior year of High School. Kinda pointless for me to take Precal at this point in HS, but anyways... I'm on Even and Odd Functions at the moment. Here's the problem...

I don't know what to do if the problem is this:

Complete the tables to determine if f (x) is even or odd or neither.

2) f (x) = Square Root of X

X side of the table being...

-3
-2
-1
0
1
2
3

And I have to figure out the Y side of the table. Help is much appreciated...

Seeing that I have to turn this assignment in tomorrow. lol

2. Originally Posted by Monkiwrench
Okay, I'm in Precal at the moment. Senior year of High School. Kinda pointless for me to take Precal at this point in HS, but anyways... I'm on Even and Odd Functions at the moment. Here's the problem...

I don't know what to do if the problem is this:

Complete the tables to determine if f (x) is even or odd or neither.

2) f (x) = Square Root of X

X side of the table being...

-3
-2
-1
0
1
2
3

And I have to figure out the Y side of the table. Help is much appreciated...

Seeing that I have to turn this assignment in tomorrow. lol
just replace the x in the formula with whatever number you're considering to find the corresponding y-value.

recall that, $y = f(x)$

example: for x = -3, we have:

$y = f(-3) = \sqrt {-3}$ which "does not exists," or you can write "no solution." that is, there is no real solution, we cannot have a negative number under a square root and so an imaginary number would result here

3. Alright, good good. So I now know that it's an imaginary number I have to deal with. So lets say I have to put an $i$ down to actually fill in the table versus putting down "N/A" or "No Solution". What would I have to do next? Would it be Square Root of $3 i$ ?

4. Originally Posted by Monkiwrench
Alright, good good. So I now know that it's an imaginary number I have to deal with. So lets say I have to put an $i$ down to actually fill in the table versus putting down "N/A" or "No Solution". What would I have to do next? Would it be Square Root of $3 i$ ?
yes, you would write $\sqrt {3}~i$

recall that $i = \sqrt {-1}$

so, $\sqrt {-3} = \sqrt {3(-1)} = \sqrt {3} \sqrt {-1} = \sqrt {3}~i$

5. But if I did put $\sqrt{3}i$ in the table, that would automatically rule it out of being possibly even (because I'm working on the is-it-even? table)?

6. Originally Posted by Monkiwrench
But if I did put $\sqrt{3}i$ in the table, that would automatically rule it out of being possibly even (because I'm working on the is-it-even? table)?
yes, the fact that the graph does not exist on one side of the y-axis means it is neither odd nor even