Explain how to graph the inequality on a coordinate plane.

To graph the inequality , start by rewriting the equation as , which represents a parabola. First, find the vertex and intercepts of the parabola; the vertex can be located using the formula . For this equation, it’s at . Plot this vertex and the curve on the graph, then draw the parabola as a dashed line since the inequality is strict (not including equals). Finally, shade the area below the curve to represent all the points where .

To avoid confusion while shading, remember that the region below the parabola includes all points with a lower -value than the curve at any given . A vital tip is to test a point that you know is not on the boundary line (like ). If substituting this into the inequality yields a true statement, it indicates that region is correctly shaded, while the areas above the curve should remain unshaded.