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Reviewed CSCA Mathematics question · Hard

What is the range of the function f(x) = 1 / (x^2 - 2x + 3), where x is a real number?

  1. (0, 1/2]
  2. (0, 1/3]
  3. [1/2, ∞)
  4. (0, ∞)
Show the answer and explanation

Correct answer

A. (0, 1/2]

Principle or equation

The range of a rational function with a quadratic denominator can be found by analyzing the minimum of the denominator.

Why this answer is correct

x^2 - 2x + 3 = (x - 1)^2 + 2, which has minimum value 2. Thus f(x) = 1 / ((x-1)^2 + 2) has maximum 1/2 and approaches 0 as x → ±∞. Since the denominator is always positive, f(x) > 0. So range is (0, 1/2].

Example

For f(x) = 1/(x^2 + 1), range is (0, 1].

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