Think about sliding a penny on a table. All you're doing is moving the penny to a new location on the table. That's basically all that's happening when you translate a function! When you translate a function, you're just sliding it to a new location on the coordinate plane!
You can't go through algebra without learning about functions. This tutorial shows you a great approach to thinking about functions! Learn the definition of a function and see the different ways functions can be represented. Take a look!
Every see 'f(x)' in your math? That's function notation! It's a way to indicate that an equation is a function. Learn about function notation by watching this tutorial.
When you're learning about translating absolute value equations, learning about horizontal translations is a MUST! Check out this tutorial and see what it takes to translate an absolute value equation horizontally.
An absolute value function is just a function that contains absolute values. This tutorial gives a great introduction to this very useful function!
When you're learning about translating square root functions, learning about vertical translations is a MUST! Check out this tutorial and see what it takes to translate a square root function vertically.
A great way to better understand how to translate a function is to practice! This tutorial takes you through the steps of graphing a function that's been translated up and to the right.