CHAPTER 4

Piecewise and Absolute Value Functions

Supplement: Slope-Intercept Form

Example 4.1. Find the slope of the line that passes through (3, 7) and
( 8, 15).

Solution. Given any two points on a line, (x1 , y1 ) and (x2 , y2 ), the slope m
of the line is given by:
y1 y2
m=
x1 x2

So the slope of the line in this problem is

7 15
m=
3 ( 8)
22
=
11
= 2

1
Example 4.2. Write the equation of a line that has a slope of 2
and a
y-intercept at (0, 3).

Solution. The slope-intercept form a line is

y = mx + b
where m is the slope and b is the y-intercept.

So in this case, the equation of the line is y = 12 x 3.

129
130 4. PIECEWISE AND ABSOLUTE VALUE FUNCTIONS

Slope-Intercept Problems

Problem 4.1.
Write the equation of the line that passes through (0, 4) and ( 6, 6).

Problem 4.2.
Write the equation of the line with slope 1 and that passes through the origin.

Problem 4.3.
A line has slope 12 and passes through the point (2, 4). Find at least three
other points that it passes through.

Problem 4.4.
A line has slope 3 and passes through the points (2, 4) and ( 1, k). Find k.

Problem 4.5.
A line passes through the point (0, 1) and the vertex of the function f (x) =
x2 4x + 7. Find the equation of the line.

Problem 4.6.
Find the x-intercept of the line y = 2x 5.

Problem 4.7.
A line has slope m and y-intercept (0, b). Find the x-intercept of the line in
terms of m and b.

Problem 4.8.
Sketch the line y = 14 x + 2. Label its x and y-intercepts.

Problem 4.9.
Find the slope and y-intercept of the line 2x 3y = 12 by rewriting the
equation in slope-intercept form.

Problem 4.10.
Find the slope and y-intercept of the line ax + by = c in terms of a, b, and c.
 1. POINT-SLOPE FORM 131

1. Point-Slope Form

Example 4.3. Write the equation of the line with slope 2 and that passes
through the point (7, 3).

Solution. The formula for slope gives us a way to write the equation of a
line when we are given

• the slope of the line

• a point on that line (not necessarily the y-intercept)

Start with the equation for slope

y1 y2
m=
x1 x2
Let m = 2 and (x2 , y2 ) be the given point (7, 3). Then for (x1 , y1 ), we substitute
a generic point (x, y) rather than a specific point. Then we can solve for y and
end up with the equation of the line.
y 3
2=
x 7
y 3 = 2(x 7)
y = 2(x 7) + 3

In general, given a slope m and a point (h, k), we can write the equation of
the line in point-slope form using
y = m(x h) + k

Example 4.4. Let f (x) = x. Write the function g(x) that applies the
following transformations to f .
1
• vertical stretch by a factor of 3
• shift left 4 units
• shift down 7 units

Example 4.5. Sketch the graph of y = 12 (x + 4) + 1.

132 4. PIECEWISE AND ABSOLUTE VALUE FUNCTIONS

Point-Slope Problems

Problem 4.11.
1
Write the equation of the line that has slope 4
and passes through the point
( 8, 3).

Problem 4.12.
Let f (x) = 3(x 7) + 2. Find

• the slope of the line

• one (obvious) point that the line passes through
• the y-intercept of the line
• the x-intercept of the line

Problem 4.13.
A line passes through the points ( 2, 3) and (5, 1). Write two di↵erent point-
slope equations for the line.

Problem 4.14.
A line has slope 23 and passes through the point ( 1, 2). Write two di↵erent
point-slope equations for the line.

Problem 4.15.
One way to write the equation of the line is y = 2(x 3) 4. If another way
to write the equation of the line is y = 2(x + 5) + k, what is k?

Problem 4.16.
1 2
A line has slope 2 and passes through the vertex of y = 2
x 4x 9.

• Write the equation of the line.

• Find the y-intercept of the line.
• Find the x-intercept of the line.

Problem 4.17.
A line passes through the vertex of f (x) = 2(x + 5)2 3 and the vertex of
g(x) = f ( 12 x) + 1. Write the equation of the line.
 1. POINT-SLOPE FORM 133

Problem 4.18.
A line passes through the center of (x 4)2 + (y + 2)2 = 16 and one of the
2 2
x-intercepts x9 + y25 = 1. Find the two possible slopes for this line and write
an equation for each.

Problem 4.19.
Sketch the graphs of the following lines.

(a) y = 3(x 1) + 2.
1
(b) y = 3
(x + 2) 1
(c) y = (x + 3) + 4
(d) y = 45 (x + 3) + 1

Problem 4.20.
Describe the similarities and di↵erences between the graphs of the following
two functions

• f (x) = 3(x 7) + 2
• g(x) = 3(x 7)2 + 2
134 4. PIECEWISE AND ABSOLUTE VALUE FUNCTIONS

2. Piecewise Functions
1
Example 4.6. Sketch the graph of f (x) = 2
(x 2) + 3 on the domain
[ 1, 1).

Example 4.7. Sketch the graph of g(x) = 2(x 1) + 1 on the domain

( 1, 2).

Solution. The examples above illustrate sketching graphs on a restricted

domain. Usually lines have domains of ( 1, 1), but if we are only interested
in a di↵erent domain, we need to first identify where the “cuto↵” point is. We
do this by plugging in the bounds of the domain into the function.

The graphs of f (x) and g(x) are shown below. Note that we use an open circle
to show that the point (2, 1) is not part of the graph of g(x).
 2. PIECEWISE FUNCTIONS 135

Example 4.8. Sketch the graph of

(
x 1 if x < 2
h(x) =
x+3 if x 2

Solution. The above is an example of a piecewise function, a function that

has more than one formula and each formula is assigned a specific domain.

To graph a piecewise function, we graph each “piece” on its domain.

136 4. PIECEWISE AND ABSOLUTE VALUE FUNCTIONS

Piecewise Problems

Problem 4.21.
Sketch the graphs of the following piecewise functions.
(
x 1 if x < 0
• a(x) =
x + 1 if x 0
(
1
2
x if x  2
• b(x) =
x if x > 2
(
x 2 if x  1
• c(x) =
x 2 if x 1
(
2x + 3 if x < 0
• d(x) =
2x 1 if x > 1

Problem 4.22.
A piecewise function is continuous if there is no gap in between the pieces.
Sketch each function below and determine whether they are continuous.
(
1
x + 3 if x < 4
• a(x) = 2
x 4 if x 4
(
1
x + 3 if x < 4
• b(x) = 2
x 3 if x 4

Problem 4.23.
The piecewise function below is continuous. Find what k should be.
(
1
2x 5 if x < 2
f (x) = 1
4x + k if x 2

Problem 4.24.
Write a piecewise function that passes through the points: ( 5, 3), ( 3, 1),
( 2, 1), and (4, 4). (There’s more than one possible function, but not all
possibilities are correct.)
 2. PIECEWISE FUNCTIONS 137

Problem 4.25.
Write a piecewise definition for a function that looks like a ‘V’ and is symmetric
about the y-axis.

Problem 4.26.
Sketch the following piecewise function.
8
>
<x + 3 if x < 1
f (x) = x + 1 if 1<x<1
>
:x 1 if x > 1

Problem 4.27.
Write a piecewise definition for a function that looks like a ’W’ and is sym-
metric about the y-axis.

Problem 4.28.
For the previous problems, we’ve only worked with piecewise functions where
each piece is linear. However, piecewise functions can be made up of any type
of function. Sketch the following functions.
(
x if x < 0
• a(x) = 2
x if x 0
(
(x + 3)2 1 if x  3
• b(x) = 1
2
(x + 3) 1 if x > 3
8
>
<px 1 if x  1
• c(x) = 1 x2 if 1<x<1
>
:x 1 if x > 1

Problem 4.29.
The greatest integer function that has the symbol f (x) = bxc is definied as
follows: for any input x, the output is the value of x rounded down. For
example b2.9c = 2 and b 2.1c = 3.

Compute the following.

(a) b7.1c (b) b11.99c (c) b4c (d) b 1.7c (e) b 0.2c
138 4. PIECEWISE AND ABSOLUTE VALUE FUNCTIONS

Problem 4.30.
Sketch the graph of

• a(x) = bxc
• b(x) = bxc + 2
• c(x) = bx 2c
• d(x) = b2xc
 3. EQUATIONS AND INEQUALITIES 139

3. Equations and Inequalities

Example 4.9. Let the function f (x) be defined as

(
x 2 if x < 1
f (x) =
x+1 if x 0
Solve the following equations:

(a) f (x) = 2
(b) f (x)  2
(c) f (x) > 2

Solution. When we solve an equation or inequality with piecewise func-

tions, it is important we consider the solutions on each part of the domain.
The graph of f (x) looks like this:

Notice that there are multiple places where the y-coordinate is 2.

To solve f (x) = 2, we’d set up an equation for each piece:

x 2=2 and x+1=2
and that leads us to the solutions x = 4 and x = 1.
140 4. PIECEWISE AND ABSOLUTE VALUE FUNCTIONS

To solve f (x)  2, we setup an inequality for each piece:

x 22 and x+12
which leads us to the solutions x 4 and x  1. However, these solutions
require some adjustment because the function is not defined on the interval
( 1, 0]. So the actual solution is [ 4, 1) [ [0, 1].

To solve f (x) > 2, we again setup an inequality for each piece:

x 2>2 and x+1>2
which leads us to the solutions x < 4 and x > 1. Both these solutions
do not need any adjustment because they are contained within the respective
domains of each piece.
 3. EQUATIONS AND INEQUALITIES 141

Equations and Inequalities Problems

Problem 4.31.
Let f (x) be defined as follows.
(
x 3 if x < 0
f (x) =
x if x 12

Solve each equation or inequality.

(a) f (x) = 1
(b) f (x) < 1
(c) f (x) 1

Problem 4.32.
Let g(x) be defined as follows.
(
2x + 3 if x < 0
g(x) =
2x + 2 if x 0

Solve each equation or inequality.

(a) g(x) = 1
(b) g(x)  1
(c) g(x) > 1

Problem 4.33.
Let h(x) be defined as follows.
(
x + 2 if x < 1
h(x) =
x 3 if x 1

Solve each equation or inequality.

(a) h(x) = 1
(b) h(x)  1
(c) h(x) > 1
142 4. PIECEWISE AND ABSOLUTE VALUE FUNCTIONS

Problem 4.34.
Let p(x) be defined as follows.
(
1
2
x + 3 if x < 0
p(x) =
x + 2 if x > 1
Solve each equation or inequality.

(a) p(x) = 2
(b) p(x) < 2
(c) p(x) > 2

Problem 4.35.
Let q(x) be defined as follows.
(
x2 + 4 if x < 0
q(x) = 1
2
x 2 if x 0
Solve each equation or inequality.

(a) q(x) = 0
(b) q(x) < 0
(c) q(x) > 0

Problem 4.36.
Let f (x) be defined as follows.
(
x 3 if x < 0
f (x) =
x if x 12

(a) If the equation f (x) = k has no solution, what could k be?

(b) Can the inequality f (x) > k have no solution? Why or why not?

Problem 4.37.
Recall the definition of the greatest integer function bxc. Solve the following.

(a) bxc = 3
(b) bxc = 3.1
(c) bxc < 3.1
 4. ABSOLUTE VALUE FUNCTIONS 143

4. Absolute Value Functions

Absolute value functions are piecewise functions. The function f (x) = |x| can
be rewritten as
(
x if x 0
f (x) =
x if x < 0

This also gives an idea of what the graph of |x| looks like. It’s a graph made
up of two lines where the graph has

• slope 1 when x 0
• slope 1 when x < 0

The two pieces meet at x = 0.

One way to think about the graph of f (x) = |x| is that it is graph of y = x
with the piece that is negative reflected over the x-axis.
144 4. PIECEWISE AND ABSOLUTE VALUE FUNCTIONS

More generally, the function f (x) = |g(x)| can be written as a piecewise func-
tion where the domain is split between pieces where g(x) is positive and where
g(x) is negative.

Example 4.10. Write f (x) = |2x + 3| as a piecewise function.

Solution. First we wish to determine where 2x + 3 (the expression without

absolute value symbols) is negative.
2x + 3 < 0
2x < 3
3
x<
2
3
So 2x + 3 is negative when x < 2 . We can also conclude that it’ll be positive
3
or zero when x 2
.

Therefore we can write f (x) as a piecewise function in the following way

(
3
2x + 3 if x 2
f (x) =
(2x + 3) if x < 32

Example 4.11. Solve |2x + 3| = 7 for x.

Solution. Because absolute value functions are piecewise functions, we need

to consider each piece when solving equations and inequalities. We’ve already
done the work of writing this as a piecewise function in the previous example
so we’ll set up an equation for each.
2x + 3 = 7
x=2
and
(2x + 3) = 7
2x + 3 = 7
x= 5
So this absolute value equation has two solutions, x = 2 and x = 5.
 4. ABSOLUTE VALUE FUNCTIONS 145

Absolute Value Problems

Problem 4.38.
Rewrite each absolute value function as a piecewise function. Then sketch a
graph of that function, labeling x and y-intercepts.

• a(x) = |x + 4|
• b(x) = |2x|
• c(x) = | x 3|
• d(x) = | 12 x 1|

Problem 4.39.
Solve each equation.

(a) |x + 4| = 5
(b) |2x 1| = 9
(c) |6 3x| = 12
(d) | 13 x + 7| = 0

Problem 4.40.
Solve each inequality.

(a) |x + 5| < 4
(b) | 13 x| > 2
(c) |3x + 1| 8
(d) |6 x|  5

Problem 4.41.
Explain why the equation |2x 1| = 3 has no solutions.

Problem 4.42.
Answer the following and explain your answers using what you know about
transformations. You may wish to graph the functions in Desmos to check
your understanding.

(a) Is 2|x + 3| the same as |2x + 6|?

(b) Is 2|x + 3| the same as | 2x 6|?
146 4. PIECEWISE AND ABSOLUTE VALUE FUNCTIONS

Problem 4.43.
Solve the equation by first isolating the absolute value expression.
1
|2x 7| + 3 = 8
3

Problem 4.44.
Solve the following equations.

(a) |x 7| + 3 = 12
(b) |3x| 5=7
(c) 3|4x 1| = 15
(d) 2|x + 1| 4 = 10

Problem 4.45.
Rewrite f (x) = |x2 + 5x 6| as a piecewise function and then sketch its graph.

Problem 4.46.
Rewrite f (x) = (|x| 2)2 5 as a piecewise function and then sketch its graph.
 5. PIECEWISE REVIEW 147

5. Piecewise Review

Review 4.1.
Write two equations for a line that passes through the points (2, 1) and
( 7, 5).

Review 4.2.
Sketch the graph of
(
1
2
x 1 if x > 2
f (x) =
x+2 if x  2

Review 4.3.
Let g(x) be a continuous function defined as
(
x2 6x + 5 if x < 1
g(x) =
2x + k if x 1
Find k.

Review 4.4.
Rewrite h(x) = |3x 6| as a piecewise function. Sketch the graph of h(x).

Review 4.5.
Solve the equation for x.
2|x 3| 7=1
148 4. PIECEWISE AND ABSOLUTE VALUE FUNCTIONS

6. Practice Test

1. The equations
y = m(x 6) + 3
y = m(x + 3) + 6
y = m(x h) + 2
all represent the same line. Find m and h.

2. Write a piecewise definition for the following function.

 6. PRACTICE TEST 149

3. Let f (x) be defined as

(
x+5 if x < 2
f (x) =
2x + 7 if x 0
Solve
(a) f (x) = 2
(b) f (x) < 2
(c) f (x) > 2

4. Let g(x) = | 12 x 3|.

(a) Write g(x) as a piecewise function.
(b) Sketch a graph of g(x).

5. Solve for x.
3|2x 1| 9 < 15

6. ? Write a piecewise definition for

y = |2x 1| |x + 2|
and sketch its graph.