
Kathye P. answered 11/16/12
Math Geek, passionate about teaching
Hi, Ana.
The number inside the parentheses with the x tells us the horizontal shift; a -3 means the graph moves to the right 3.
The constant tells us the vertical movement of the graph; the +4 tells us that the graph moves up 4.
Your vertex is now at (3,4).
Not appicable to this case, but a coefficient multiplied by the (x-3) would tell us the vertical stretch of the graph.
Hope this helps!


Kathye P.
You're right - I wanted to mention the information about the coefficient's effect on the graph, but it was not worded well. I'll clarify that.
11/16/12
Michael B.
One note - the 'vertical stretch' coefficient should be applied outside the parentheses. Putting a coeffient inside the parentheses will also create a vertical stretch, but it will also have other [possibly undesirable] effects such as additional horizontal translation and horizontal stretching/compression (it depends on how you look at it).
11/16/12