Sketching absolute value graph

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on sketching the region defined by the inequality |x-y| + |x| - |y| ≤ 2. The method involves rewriting the inequality to |x-y| ≤ 2 + |y| - |x| and analyzing it through four cases based on the signs of x and y. The first two cases confirm the validity of the shaded regions, specifically y ≥ |x| - 1 and y ≤ -(|x| - 1), while the remaining two cases are left for further exploration. This structured approach effectively narrows down the solution space for the given inequality.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of absolute value functions
  • Familiarity with Cartesian coordinates
  • Basic knowledge of inequalities
  • Experience with case analysis in mathematical proofs
NEXT STEPS
  • Explore the implications of absolute value inequalities in two dimensions
  • Learn about graphing piecewise functions
  • Study the geometric interpretation of inequalities
  • Investigate additional cases for the inequality |x-y| + |x| - |y| ≤ 2
USEFUL FOR

Students and educators in mathematics, particularly those focusing on algebra and geometry, as well as anyone interested in mastering the sketching of regions defined by inequalities.

GusGus335
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Sketch the region in the plane consisting of all points (x,y) such that
|x-y|+|x|-|y|<=2
 
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GusGus335 said:
Sketch the region in the plane consisting of all points (x,y) such that
|x-y|+|x|-|y|<=2

His GusGus335! Welcome to MHB!

I believe there are many different methods to sketch the wanted region as stated by the given inequality, and here is one of the methods that you could adopt:

First, rewrite the given inequality as $|x-y|\le 2+|y|-|x|$. And we then exploit the fact that $|x|-|y|\le |x-y|$, we get $|x|-|y|\le 2+|y|-|x|$, solving it for $|y|$, we see that we have:

$|y|\ge |x|-1$, which then suggests we have to shade the regions where $y\ge |x|-1$ and $y\le -(|x|-1)$ respectively on the Cartesian plane. Like showed in the diagram below:

[desmos="-10,10,-10,10"]y\ge \left|x\right|-1;;y\le -\left(\left|x\right|-1\right)[/desmos]

But things don't end there. We need to weed out the unwanted region(s) that don't satisfy the given inequality. We could do so by considering four cases:

Case I ($x\ge 0$ and $y\ge 0$ that correspond to $y\ge |x|-1$):

For this part, we have $-|x|+|y|\le |x-y| \le 2+|y|-|x|$, which it then gives us $0\le 2$. That means the area shaded in this area must be correct.

Case II ($x\le 0$ and $y\ge 0$ that correspond to $y\ge |x|-1$):

For this part, we have $|x|+|y|\le |x-y| \le 2+|y|-|x|$, which it then gives us $|x|\le 1$, i.e. $-1\le x \le 1$. We therefore should only shade the region of $y\ge |x|-1$ that covers the interval $-1\le x \le 0$.

i.e. we should get the shaded region shown as the picture below:

[desmos="-10,10,-10,10"]y\ge \left|x\right|-1\left\{x\ge -1\right\}[/desmos]

I will leave the other two cases for you to work them out, and I encourage you to post back to see if you get the drift of my message.
 

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