1 A family of functions is defined as
$$f ( x ) = a x + \frac { x ^ { 2 } } { 1 + x } , \quad x \neq - 1$$
where the parameter \(a\) is a real number. You may find it helpful to use a slider (for \(a\) ) to investigate the family of curves \(y = f ( x )\).
\begin{enumerate}[label=(\alph*)]
\item \begin{enumerate}[label=(\roman*)]
\item On the axes in the Printed Answer Booklet, sketch the curve \(y = f ( x )\) in each of the following cases.
- \(a = - 2\)
- \(a = - 1\)
- \(a = 0\)
- State a feature which is common to the curve in all three cases, \(a = - 2\), \(a = - 1\) and \(a = 0\).
- State a feature of the curve for the cases \(a = - 2 , a = - 1\) that is not a feature of the curve in the case \(a = 0\).
- Determine the equation of the oblique asymptote to the curve \(\mathrm { y } = \mathrm { f } ( \mathrm { x } )\) in terms of \(a\).
- For \(b \neq - 1,0,1\) let \(A\) be the point with coordinates ( \(- b , \mathrm { f } ( - b )\) ) and let \(B\) be the point with coordinates ( \(b , \mathrm { f } ( b )\) ).
Show that the \(y\)-coordinate of the point at which the chord to the curve \(y = f ( x )\) between \(A\) and \(B\) meets the \(y\)-axis is independent of \(a\).
With \(\mathrm { y } = \mathrm { f } ( \mathrm { x } )\), determine the range of values of \(a\) for which
Find its coordinates and fully justify that it is a cusp.