AP PRECALCULUS Scoring Guide

2.1-2.8EXP No Calc

1. The functions and are given by and . Which of the following is an expression
for ?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)

Answer C

Correct. This is the result of correctly composing the functions as and rewriting the
expression in an expanded standard form.

2. Two functions and are composed such that . Which of the following could be the
expressions for and ?
(A) and
(B) and
(C) and

(D) and

Answer D

Correct. This is the result of decomposing the functions such that if were substituted for in every
instance in the expression for , the result would be the given composition.

3. The functions and are given by and . What is the domain of the function given by
?
(A) All real numbers
(B) All real numbers not equal to
(C) All real numbers greater than
(D) All real numbers greater than or equal to

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2.1-2.8EXP No Calc

Answer C

Correct. The domain of is all real numbers greater than or equal to . When the functions are composed
to create function , is no longer in the domain because it results in division by .

4.

The piecewise-linear function , defined on , is shown in the graph. The function is given by
. Which of the following is the graph of ?

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2.1-2.8EXP No Calc

(A)

(B)

(C)

(D)

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2.1-2.8EXP No Calc

Answer A

Correct. This is the result of translating by units left. Although the domain restriction of is
, the domain restriction of is because the composition is a
horizontal translation of .

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2.1-2.8EXP No Calc

5.

The function (not shown) is a polynomial function of degree . The graphs of four functions , , , and are
given.

The output values of are the same as the output values of the composition function when is composed with one
of these functions as the input function. For which of the functions is this statement true?

(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)

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2.1-2.8EXP No Calc

Answer A

Correct. Since is the identity function for composition, the composition will produce the
same output values as the original function.

6.

The table gives values of the function for selected values of . The function is given by . Which of
the following gives values of for , , and ?

(A)

(B)

(C)

(D)

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2.1-2.8EXP No Calc

Answer C

Correct. This is the result of taking each output value of and using it as an input value for .

7. The function is a function of the form , where and . The function is given by
. Which of the following statements is true?
(A) The output values of both and are proportional over equal-length input-value intervals.
(B) The output values of only, not , are proportional over equal-length input-value intervals.
(C) The output values of only, not , are proportional over equal-length input-value intervals.
(D) The output values of neither nor are proportional over equal-length input-value intervals.

Answer C

Correct. Because is a function of the form , where and , is exponential

and the statement is true for . However, because is an additive transformation of , each of the output
values of would need to change by a constant of to be proportional over equal-length input-value
intervals.

8. The value is the output value of an exponential function of the form , where
and are constants. Which of the following describes the function and input value that corresponds to this output
value?
(A) The exponential function has an initial value of and a base of , and the input value is .
(B) The exponential function has an initial value of and a base of , and the input value is .
(C) The exponential function has an initial value of and a base of , and the input value is .
(D) The exponential function has an initial value of and a base of , and the input value is .

Answer D

Correct. The common ratio, or base value, of is repeatedly multiplied times (the input value) to an
initial value of .

9. The function is given by . Which of the following describes ?

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2.1-2.8EXP No Calc

(A) The function models exponential decay and .

(B) The function models exponential decay and .

(C) The function models exponential growth and .

(D) The function models exponential growth and .

Answer A

Correct. Because the common ratio is and the initial value is positive, this exponential function
models decay. As the -values increase without bound, the function values get closer to .

10. The function is given by . Which of the following expressions could also define ?

(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)

Answer A

Correct. Using the product property, . The fractional exponent indicates the
square root of the value, or .

11. The function is given by . What is the value of ?

(A)
(B)
(C)

(D)

Answer D

Correct. This is the result of correctly applying the negative exponent property to get

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2.1-2.8EXP No Calc

12. The function is given by , and the function is given by . For which of the following
transformations is the graph of the image of the graph of ?
(A) A horizontal translation to the left units
(B) A horizontal translation to the right units

(C) A vertical translation up unit

(D) A vertical translation down unit

Answer B

Correct. The function can be written as , which is a horizontal translation of the

graph of .

13. The function is given by . The function is given by , where . Which of the
following describes the relationship between the graphs of and ?
The graph of is a combination of a horizontal dilation of the graph of and a reflection over the
(A)
-axis.
The graph of is a combination of a horizontal dilation of the graph of and a reflection over the
(B)
-axis.
(C) The graph of is a combination of a vertical dilation of the graph of and a reflection over the -axis.
(D) The graph of is a combination of a vertical dilation of the graph of and a reflection over the -axis.

Answer B

Correct. The power property implies a horizontal dilation. Because and it impacts , there is also
a reflection over the -axis.

14. The function is given by . Which of the following expressions also defines ?
(A)

(B)

(C)
(D)

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2.1-2.8EXP No Calc

Answer B

Correct. Using the power property for exponents and the fact that , can be expressed in this
equivalent form.

15. The functions and are given by and , where . Which of the following
describes the relationship between the graph of and the graph of ?
(A) The graph of is a vertical translation of the graph of by units.
(B) The graph of is a horizontal translation of the graph of by units.
(C) The graph of is a vertical translation of the graph of by units.
(D) The graph of is a horizontal translation of the graph of by units.

Answer D

Correct. By the product property, , which is a horizontal translation of the

graph of by units.

16.

The table gives values of the function for selected values of . Which of the following expressions could define
?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)

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2.1-2.8EXP No Calc

Answer B

Correct. This is the result of finding the common ratio of and adjusting for the initial value.

17. Water hyacinth is an invasive plant species found in many lakes that typically grows at a rate of per day. As
part of a study, a scientist introduces a -gram sample of water hyacinth into a testing pool. Which of the
following functions gives the amount of water hyacinth in the testing pool weeks after the sample is introduced?
(Note: week is days.)

(A)

(B)

(C)

(D)

Answer D

Correct. Each week the growth factor of percent must be applied times.

18. The function is defined by for . Which of the following expressions defines
?
(A) for
(B) for
(C) for
(D) for

Answer C

Correct. This is the result of reversing the roles ofand in the equation and solving for
the inverse function. The domain of the inverse function is the range of the original function . The
range of the inverse function is the domain of the original function .

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19.

The graph of the function is given. Which of the following is the graph of ?

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2.1-2.8EXP No Calc

(A)

(B)

(C)

(D)

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Answer D

Correct. This graph is a reflection of the graph of over the identity function .

20. The function is given by . Which of the following defines ?

(A)
(B)
(C)

(D)

Answer D

Correct. This is the result of reversing the operations of with multiplication by first, then subtraction
of , followed by division of the entire expression by .

21. The function is defined by for . Which of the following expressions defines the inverse
function of ?
(A) for
(B) for

(C) for

(D) for

Answer C

Correct. This is the result of reversing the roles of and in the equation and then solving
for . Note that the values in the domain of correspond to the values in the range of .

22. A water tank is leaking water from a crack in its base. The amount of water, in hundreds of gallons, remaining in the
tank hours after the crack formed can be modeled by , a decreasing function of time . Which of the following
gives a verbal representation of the function , the inverse function of ?

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2.1-2.8EXP No Calc

(A) is an increasing function of the amount of time after the crack formed.
(B) is a decreasing function of the amount of time after the crack formed.
(C) is an increasing function of the amount of water in the tank.
(D) is a decreasing function of the amount of water in the tank.

Answer D

Correct. Because maps times to amounts of water, the inverse function maps amounts of water to
times. Because is decreasing, as one variable increases, the other decreases. This relationship does
not change for the inverse function.

23. A family needs to buy one shovel and between one and eight plants, inclusive, for their new garden. The cost of the
shovel is dollars, and the cost of one plant is dollars. The output values of which of the following give the
possible costs for these items, in dollars? (Note: Assume any taxes are included in the costs.)
(A) The linear function for
(B) The exponential function for

(C) The arithmetic sequence for

(D) The geometric sequence for

Answer C

Correct. The possible costs fall into a pattern of an initial value and a common difference, making an
arithmetic sequence (the domain of which is the positive integers) an appropriate model for the
contextual scenario.

24. Which of the following includes the input-output pairs and ?

(A) The arithmetic sequence
(B) The linear function
(C) The geometric sequence

(D) The exponential function

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Answer D

Correct. The output values correspond to the appropriate input values for both of the given input-output
pairs.

25. The second term of a sequence is , and the fourth term is . Of the following, which statement is true?
(A) If the sequence is geometric, the first term could be .
(B) If the sequence is arithmetic, the third term could be .
(C) If the sequence is geometric, the fifth term could be .
(D) If the sequence is arithmetic, the sixth term could be .

Answer C

Correct. If the sequence is geometric, the common ratio could be , and the fifth term would be times
the fourth term. Note that the common ratio could be and satisfy the given conditions; in that case,
the fifth term would be .

26. An exponential function has a known common ratio of and includes the input-output pair . Which of the
following could define ?
(A)
(B)
(C)

(D)

Answer D

Correct. This has the form of an exponential function with the appropriate common ratio, and the initial
value index is correctly accounted for in the exponent.

27. The general term of a sequence is given by , where is the initial value. Which of the
following expressions also gives the general term of the sequence?

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2.1-2.8EXP No Calc

(A)
(B)
(C)

(D)

Answer C

Correct. This is the result of rewriting this arithmetic sequence in terms of an initial value and common
difference.

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