16Hit1600
Advanced MathMediumSum of all intercepts of a parabola

Advanced Math practice question

In the xy-plane, the graph of h(x) = x² − 9 has two x-intercepts and one y-intercept. What is the sum of the x-coordinates of the x-intercepts and the y-coordinate of the y-intercept?

Answer: -9

x-intercepts at x = 3 and x = −3 (sum 0); y-intercept at y = −9. Total: −9.

Common wrong answers

If you answered 0
0 is the sum of the x-intercepts alone.
If you answered 9
9 has the wrong sign for the y-intercept.
If you answered -3
−3 uses −3 for the y-intercept, mistaking a root for the constant term.

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