Education Technology


Intercepts, Zeros, Roots, Factors, & Solutions

Activity Overview

During the activity, students will use the CALCULATE functions, POLYSMLT, and the graphing capabilities of their grapher to analyze the relationship between, x-intercepts, zeros, roots, factors, and solutions of polynomial functions/equations.

Before the Activity

Students will need the POLYSMLT APP on their graphers.

During the Activity

The TI Navigator will be used fluently along with the exploration worksheet. 1) Load f(x) on the Activity Center. 2) Allow students to Contribute Points. Set the number of points to zero so that the students will have a cursor throughout the exploration. 3) To ensure understanding of intercepts and extrema, have the students move their cursor to the correct location. 4) Allow students to answer questions 2-4. 5) Quick Poll - How are the above graphs (1-4) similar? 6) Use SmartView to demonstrate the use of POLYSMLT APP to find roots on the grapher if needed. 7) Check roots through Quick Poll. 8) Quick Poll - Therefore, the x-intercepts can be known as the _______ of the equation or the __________ of the equation. 9) Quick Poll for the factors of f(x) and the remaining functions.

After the Activity

If additional examples are needed, use a higher degree function and work through the analysis in a similar manner.