Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-1-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2010/paper-1/8/a/solution

The domain of a function excludes . Both branches are positive, with a vertical asymptote at approached from both sides with value , and horizontal asymptote at either infinity. The graph is symmetric about because it depends only on .
For , the formula is and the derivative is positive; for , it is and the derivative is negative. It passes through and has no zeros.
Figure 1.
The two positive reciprocal-distance branches and their vertical and horizontal asymptotes
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