How do you determine the end behavior of f(x)=1/3x^3+5x?

1 Answer
Feb 17, 2017

-oo to the left and oo to the right

Explanation:

to know the end behavior of a function you need to know two things:
1. if the function is positive or negative
2. what the base function is, and what the base function looks like

f(x)=1/3x^3+5x
1. the function is positive, so it will be increasing
2.the base function is y=x^3

graph: y=x^3
graph{y=x^3 [-10, 10, -5, 5]}
so knowing that f(x)=1/3x^3+5x is positive and base function is y=x^3, it will be heading towards -oo to the left and oo to the right

the 1/3 and 5x just makes the function become a really thin y=x^3

graph:y=1/3 x^3 + 5x (if you scroll out you'll see it better)
graph{y=1/3 x^3 + 5x [-10, 10, -5, 5]}