I'm working through a textbook exercise and am asked to find the intervals in which $g(x) = 5(x+3)^2-2$ is increasing and decreasing.
The solution provided is decreasing on $(-\infty, -3)$ and then increasing on $(-3, \infty)$.
I cannot see how to arrive at this conclusion. These are exercises at the end of a chapter on the transformation of functions though the author may be including bits from previous chapters, however I searched through recent chapters and there was only a section on determining where a function is increasing or decreasing based on a graph, so visually.
In this case does the question expect me to derive the solution based on formula? Is that possible? Or am I perhaps expected to draw a graph for some arbitrary values and then try to determine the increasing and decreasing points?
Best Answer
The $-2$ at the end is just translating the function down, it will not change if it is increasing or decreasing. Than you have a parabola, so you need to look at the vertex, which is at $-3$, since you have $(x-(-3))^2$. This is similar to $x^2$, just translated horizontally from $0$ to $-3$. You know that the parabola has values of $+\infty$ at $x=\pm\infty$, so it's decreasing from $-\infty$ to the vertex at $-3$, and increasing afterwards.
P.S. see @JWTanner 's comment