Understanding Vertical Shrink: How Math Transforms Graphs through Compression Towards the x-axis

vertical shrink

Vertical shrink is a term used in mathematics to describe a transformation on a graph that results in all the points being vertically compressed towards the x-axis

Vertical shrink is a term used in mathematics to describe a transformation on a graph that results in all the points being vertically compressed towards the x-axis. This shrinkage occurs when multiplying the y-coordinates of the points on the graph by a constant between 0 and 1.

To understand how a vertical shrink works, let’s consider a simple linear equation, y = mx + b, where m represents the slope of the line and b represents the y-intercept.

If we want to vertically shrink the graph of this equation by a factor of 0.5, we need to multiply all the y-coordinates of the points on the graph by 0.5. For example, the point (1, 3) on the original graph would shift to (1, 1.5) on the vertically shrunk graph.

This shrinking effect is often visualized as the graph becoming narrower in the vertical direction. The greater the factor by which we shrink (e.g., multiplying by 0.25 instead of 0.5), the narrower the graph becomes.

It is important to note that a vertical shrink does not affect the x-coordinates of the points on the graph. Only the y-coordinates are scaled down. This means that the x-intercept(s) and the slope of the line remain unchanged.

In summary, vertical shrink is a transformation that compresses the y-coordinates of the points on a graph towards the x-axis by multiplying them by a constant factor between 0 and 1. It results in a narrower graph in the vertical direction while preserving the slope and x-intercept(s) of the original function.

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