Question

How do you find the important points to graph `y=f(x)=x^2+1`?

Answer 1

`x^2+1` tells us something important. On the parent graph of `x^2`, the important points are `x=0`, `y=0`. The `+1` in this equation tells us that it's the same graph, except it has been shifted up one unit. So instead of `(0,0)`, now the x-intercept is `(0, 1)`. All the normal points in `x^2` have kept their `x` values, but the `y` values have increased by `1`.

We can check that in this graph.

graph{y=x^2}
graph{y=x^2+1}