Vertical line test

The vertical line test is a way of determining whether or not a plotted graph is a function.

The vertical line test states that a relation is a function iff no vertical line intersects the graph in more than one point.

This is because a function cannot have more than one output for any one input.

For example, is a function because any vertical line intersects it in, at most, one point, while is not a function (try the line ).

In other words, for every x value, there should only be one y value.

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