<p>Can someone explain this math problem to me. College Board's explanation isn't very clear.</p>
<p>See how the y values don't go below 0?
it means that its absolute valued. (lol)</p>
<p>so you can eliminate A and B.
with me so far?</p>
<p>E looks plausible, but when you expand the inner part, the -2x drags the graph to the left, which is different from the picture.</p>
<p>now. If you don't know what you are doing, lets plug in a value. say 0.
for D. ab[(0)^2-1] = 1.
look at the graph, is it right? yes!</p>
<p>bingo.</p>
<p>If you did know the concept, you would see that it is a quadratic equation that has been affected by the absolute value. if you redraw the graph without the absolute value, the y intercept would go below 0. The only one that does it is D.</p>
<p>if you don't get it, please tell. I'll try to explain further.</p>
<p>another thing you could have done was plugged in (-1) and look for the answer choice that gives you 0.</p>
<p>Anhtimmy-that was an insufficient explanation; and although you came to the right conclusion, your reasoning is flawed. For The answer option A, the graph would never cross the X axis, because x^2=(-x^2)>0. However, this equation would never even TOUCH the x axis, since there is no x such that (x^2)= -1. For that reason, and others, it cannot be A. From here, it is apparent that the only equation that is symmetrical about the Y axis and touches the X axis is D. </p>
<p>ivyleague's method is correct, the equation that equals 0 at two points symmetric about the Y-axis is correct.</p>