Explanation for Question 12 From the Math (No Calc) Section on the 2020 March Sat
So let's take a look at question number 12, which tells us that the 2 Y intercept of the graph of Y is equal to fourth to the X, 3 um, is what right? And so there are actually a couple of answers choices 4 that we can immediately eliminate. There's actually three that we could eliminate, 5 but if you were, um, uh, very unsure of what a Y intercept was, 6 you should immediately know that one of the coordinates on our point is going 7 to have to be zero, right? Because if we're talking about the Y intercept, 8 it has to occur on this axis. I'll go ahead and highlight it in 9 red so we can see better. The access here in red is where 10 our point has to be, because that's our why and our Y axis. 11 And if we look at this, no matter how high or how low I 12 am on this axis, my X coordinate is always going to be zero. 13 That's never going to change. So regardless of what the Y coordinate is, 14 I should have an X that zero and only one answer choice does that. 15 And it C so we could immediately choose the answer choice C here. 16 Um, but we could also go one step further, 17 just double check that the Y coordinate is correct, 18 right? And so if this is my equation, 19 Y is equal to four to the X, and I want to plug in 20 an X of zero. I can say, 21 Y is equal to four to the zero. And this goes over another exponent 22 rule, which is pretty important. Anything raised to the zero power is going to 23 be one, one. 24 So even if this was like a million braces, 25 zero with power, it was still just me one, 26 which is in fact what answer choice C says. 27 So our best answer will be C.