Unit G Summary Question 8: Finding the y-intercept

8. How do you fin the y intercept of a rational function? Does this need to be done in the original or simplified equation?
Finding the y-intercept in a rational function is really simple. All you need to do is plug in zero into anywhere in which the equation has an x and simplify both on top and on bottom to get your y intercept.Finding the y intercept needs to be done using the factored out equation because sometimes the original equation contains x's on both top and bottom which means that it will be zero. But that is not correct, you need to use the factored out equation because yo get a complete different answer than when using the original function. Remember that there can only be one y intercept!