Question

The standard diameter of a golf ball is 42.67 mm. A golf ball factory does quality control on the balls it manufactures. Golf balls are randomly measured to ensure the correct size. One day, an inspector decides to stop production if the discrepancy in diameter is more than 0.002 mm. Which function could represent this situation?
f(x ) = x – |42.67|
f(x ) = |x| – 42.67
f(x ) = |42.67 – x|
f(x ) = 42.67 – |x|

Answer 1

The discrepancy is the absolute difference between the measured diameter x and the standard 42.67, so
f(x) = |42.67 − x|.
(The inspector stops if f(x) > 0.002 mm.)