3. Find a model for the set of values.

x –5 –4 0 4 5
y 25 16 2 16 25

Can someone explain what the graph might look like whether it opens up or down, or slanted line or squiggle line

4 answers

looks symmetric about x=0, and opens up.

In fact, it looks a lot like y = x^2!
with a bump at x=0
using Newton's divided differences, you can see that

.005*x^4 + .795*x^2 + 2

matches the data points
I thought the graph looks like it opens up with the bottom on 2