Question: Which function has a lower minimum?
Answer: f(x)
Reason: The graph of g(x) has the lowest point of (-1,3) so the min here is 3. This is the smallest y can get. In contrast, the smallest y can get for f(x) is y = 1 which is smaller than 3.
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Question: What is the value of the lower minimum?
Answer: 1
Reason: We simply state the y value, or output function value f(x), that is the smallest shown. In this case, it happens to be 1.