A polynomial graphic tool

• Enter the polynomial you wish to work with in the bottom field. When it is what you want, either press the Enter key on your keyboard, or click on the Reset button with your left mouse button. (they have exactly the same effect.)
• When the window opens up, it is in Point mode. Clicking on one of the other buttons above will change the mode. The mode determines what response will be made to a mouse click in the picture window.
• In Point mode, a single node is displayed on the graph. If you click on the node and drag it, it will move along the graph.
• In Tangent mode, both the node and the tangent line will be displayed and move.
• In Secant mode, two nodes and the secant line between them will be displayed. Both nodes may be moved.
• In Zoom + mode, the figure will zoom in on to the point you have clicked on. Objects will be enlarged by a factor equal to about 1.33 Eight successive zooms will scale by a factor of 10.
• In Zoom - mode, the figure will zoom out on to the point you have clicked on. Objects will be shrunk by a factor equal to about 1.33.

At all times, the location of the active nodes will be displayed at the current resolution, which is also displayed. The current resolution is the width of one grid interval.

The way you write a polynomial is like this: x^3 - x + 1 or -2x^2 + 1. In the current version of this tool, the coefficients must be integers.

We could tell you more, but if we have done our job correctly you will be able to figure things out for yourself.

A known bug is that you zooming several times rapidly in succession may freeze the display temporarily. So zoom slowly.