Functions

Dr. Hina Dutt

hina.dutt@seecs.edu.pk
SEECS-NUST
FOUR WAYS TO REPRESENT A FUNCTION

Functions arise whenever

one quantity depends on
another.
• Consider the following four situations.
EXAMPLE A

The area A of a circle depends

on the radius r of the circle.
• The rule that connects r and A is given by the
equation A  . r 2
• With each positive number r, there is associated
one value of A, and we say that A is a function of r.
EXAMPLE B

The human population of the world

P depends on the time t.
• The table gives estimates of the
world population P(t) at time t,
for certain years.
• For instance,
P(1950)  2,560, 000, 000
• However, for each value of the
time t, there is a corresponding
value of P, and we say that
P is a function of t.
EXAMPLE C

The cost C of mailing a first-class

letter depends on the weight w
of the letter.
• Although there is no simple formula that
connects w and C, the post office has a rule
for determining C when w is known.
EXAMPLE D

The vertical acceleration a of the

ground as measured by a seismograph
during an earthquake is a function of
the elapsed time t.
FUNCTION

Each of these examples describes a rule

whereby, given a number (r, t, w, or t),
another number (A, P, C, or a) is
assigned.
• In each case, we say that the second number
is a function of the first number.
FUNCTION

A function f is a rule that assigns to

each element x in a set D exactly
one element, called f(x), in a set E.
DOMAIN

We usually consider functions for

which the sets D and E are sets of
real numbers.

The set D is called the domain of the

function.
VALUE AND RANGE

The number f(x) is the value of f at x

and is read ‘f of x.’

The range of f is the set of all possible

values of f(x) as x varies throughout the
domain.
INDEPENDENT VARIABLE

A symbol that represents an arbitrary

number in the domain of a function f
is called an independent variable.
• For instance, in Example A, r is the independent variable.
DEPENDENT VARIABLE

A symbol that represents a number in

the range of f is called a dependent
variable.
• For instance, in Example A, A is the dependent variable.
MACHINE

It’s helpful to think of a function

as a machine.
• If x is in the domain of the function f, then when x
enters the machine, it’s accepted as an input and
the machine produces an output f(x) according to
the rule of the function.
MACHINE

• Thus, we can think of the domain as

the set of all possible inputs and the
range as the set of all possible outputs.
ARROW DIAGRAM

Another way to picture a function is

by an arrow diagram.
• Each arrow connects an element of D to
an element of E.
• The arrow indicates that f(x) is associated with x,
f(a) is associated with a,
and so on.

Fig. 1.1.3, p. 12
GRAPH

The most common method for

visualizing a function is its graph.
• If f is a function with domain D, then its graph is
the set of ordered pairs
( x, f ( x)) | x  D
• Notice that these are input-output pairs.
• In other words, the graph of f consists of all points
(x, y) in the coordinate plane such that y = f(x)
and x is in the domain of f.
GRAPH

The graph of a function f gives us

a useful picture of the behavior or
‘life history’ of a function.
• Since the y-coordinate of any point (x, y) on
the graph is y = f(x), we can read the value of f(x)
from the graph as
being the height of
the graph above
the point x.
GRAPH

The graph of f also allows us

to picture:
• The domain of f on the x-axis
• Its range on the y-axis
GRAPH Example 1

The graph of a function f is shown.

a. Find the values of f(1) and f(5).

b. What is the domain and range of f ?
GRAPH Example 1 a

We see that the point (1, 3) lies on

the graph of f.
• So, the value of f at 1 is f(1) = 3.
• In other words, the point on the graph that lies
above x = 1 is 3 units
above the x-axis.
• When x = 5, the graph
lies about 0.7 units
below the x-axis.
• So, we estimate that

f (5)  0.7
GRAPH Example 1 b

We see that f(x) is defined when

0 x7
• So, the domain of f is the closed interval [0, 7].
• Notice that f takes on all values from -2 to 4.
• So, the range of f is

 y | 2  y  4  [2, 4]
GRAPH Example 2

Sketch the graph and find the

domain and range of each function.

a. f(x) = 2x – 1

b. g(x) = x2
GRAPH Example 2 a

The equation of the graph is:

y = 2x – 1
• We recognize this as being the equation of a line
with slope 2 and y-intercept -1.
• Recall the slope-intercept form of the equation of
a line: y = mx + b.
• This enables us to sketch a portion of the graph of f,
as follows.
 GRAPH Example 2 a
The expression 2x - 1 is defined for
all real numbers.
• So, the domain of f is the set of all real numbers,
which we denote by .
• The graph shows that the range is also .
GRAPH Example 2 b
Since g(2) = 22 = 4 and g(-1) = (-1)2 = 1,
we could plot the points (2, 4) and (-1, 1),
together with a few other points on the graph,
and join them to produce the next graph.
 GRAPH Example 2 b
The equation of the graph is y = x2,
which represents a parabola.
The domain of g is .
GRAPH Example 2 b

The range of g consists of all values of

g(x), that is, all numbers of the form x2.
 However, x 2  0 for all numbers x, and any positive
number y is a square.
 So, the range of g is
 y | y  0  [0, )
 This can also be seen
from the figure.
REPRESENTATIONS OF FUNCTIONS

There are four possible ways to

represent a function:
• Verbally (by a description in words)
• Numerically (by a table of values)
• Visually (by a graph)
• Algebraically (by an explicit formula)
 Example 3
Find the domain of each function.

a. f ( x)  x2
1
b. g ( x)  2
x 1
 Example 3 a

The square root of a negative number is

not defined (as a real number).
So, the domain of f consists of all values
of x such that x  2  0.
• This is equivalent to x  .2
• So, the domain is the interval [2,. )
REPRESENTATIONS Example 3 b
1 1
Since g ( x )  
x2  x x ( x  1)
and division by 0 is not allowed, we see
that g(x) is not defined when x = 0 or
x = 1.
• Thus, the domain of g is  x | x  0, x  1
• This could also be written in interval notation
as (, 0)  (0,1)  (1, )
REPRESENTATIONS

The graph of a function is a curve in

the xy-plane.

However, the question arises:

• Which curves in the xy-plane are graphs of functions?
THE VERTICAL LINE TEST

A curve in the xy-plane is the graph

of a function of x if and only if no
vertical line intersects the curve more
than once.
THE VERTICAL LINE TEST

The reason for the truth of the Vertical

Line Test can be seen in the figure.
THE VERTICAL LINE TEST
If each vertical line x = a intersects a curve
only once—at (a, b)—then one functional
value is defined by f(a) = b.
THE VERTICAL LINE TEST
However, if a line x = a intersects the curve
twice—at (a, b) and (a, c)—then the curve
can’t represent a function because a function
can’t assign two different values to a.
THE VERTICAL LINE TEST

For example, the parabola x = y2 – 2

shown in the figure is not the graph of
a function of x.
• This is because there are
vertical lines that intersect
the parabola twice.
• The parabola, however,
does contain the graphs
of two functions of x.
THE VERTICAL LINE TEST

Notice that the equation x = y2 - 2

implies y2 = x + 2, so y   x  2
• So, the upper and lower halves of the parabola
are the graphs of the functions f ( x)  x  2
and g ( x)   x  2
THE VERTICAL LINE TEST

If we reverse the roles of x and y,

then:
• The equation x = h(y) = y2 -2 does define x as
a function of y (with y as the independent variable
and x as the dependent variable).
• The parabola appears as
the graph of the function h.
PIECEWISE-DEFINED FUNCTIONS

The functions in the following four

examples are defined by different formulas
in different parts of their domains.
PIECEWISE-DEFINED FUNCTIONS Example 7

A function f is defined by:

1  x if x  1
f ( x)  2
x if x  1
Evaluate f(0), f(1), and f(2) and
sketch the graph.
PIECEWISE-DEFINED FUNCTIONS Example 7

Remember that a function is a rule.

For this particular function, the rule is:

• First, look at the value of the input x.
• If it happens that x  1 , then the value of f(x) is 1 - x.
• In contrast, if x > 1, then the value of f(x) is x2.
PIECEWISE-DEFINED FUNCTIONS Example 7

How do we draw the graph of f ?

• If x  1 , then f(x) = 1 – x.
• So, the part of the graph of f that lies to the left of
the vertical line x = 1 must coincide with the line
y = 1 - x, which has slope -1 and y-intercept 1.
• If x > 1, then f(x) = x2.
• So, the part of the graph of f that lies to the right of
the line x = 1 must coincide with the graph of y = x2,
which is a parabola.
• This enables us to sketch the graph as follows.
PIECEWISE-DEFINED FUNCTIONS Example 7
The solid dot indicates that the point (1, 0)
is included on the graph.
The open dot indicates that the point (1, 1)
is excluded from the graph.
PIECEWISE-DEFINED FUNCTIONS

The next example is the absolute

value function.
• Recall that the absolute value of a number a,
denoted by |a|, is the distance from a to 0 on
the real number line.
• Distances are always positive or 0.
• So, we have | a | 0 for every number a.
• For example,
|3| = 3 , |-3| = 3 , |0| = 0 , | 2  1| 2  1 , | 3   |   3
PIECEWISE-DEFINED FUNCTIONS

In general, we have:

|a| a if a  0
| a |  a if a  0
• Remember that, if a is negative, then -a is positive.
PIECEWISE-DEFINED FUNCTIONS Example 8

Sketch the graph of the absolute

value function f(x) = |x|.
• From the preceding discussion,
we know that:

x if x  0
| x | 
 x if x  0
PIECEWISE-DEFINED FUNCTIONS Example 8

Using the same method as in

Example 7, we see that the graph of f
coincides with:
• The line y = x to the right of the y-axis
• The line y = -x to the left of the y-axis
PIECEWISE-DEFINED FUNCTIONS Example 9

Find a formula for the function f

graphed in the figure.
PIECEWISE-DEFINED FUNCTIONS Example 9
The line through (0, 0) and (1, 1) has slope
m = 1 and y-intercept b = 0.
So, its equation is y = x.

• Thus, for the part of

the graph of f that
joins (0, 0) to (1, 1),
we have:

f ( x)  x if 0  x  1
PIECEWISE-DEFINED FUNCTIONS Example 9
The line through (1, 1) and (2, 0) has slope
m = -1.
So, its point-slope form is y – 0 = (-1)(x - 2) or
y = 2 – x.
• So, we have:

f ( x)  2  x if 1  x  2
PIECEWISE-DEFINED FUNCTIONS Example 9
We also see that the graph of f coincides with
the x-axis for x > 2.
Putting this information together, we have
the following three-piece formula for f:

x if 0  x  1

f ( x)  2  x if 1  x  2
0 if x  2

PIECEWISE-DEFINED FUNCTIONS Example 10
In Example C, at the beginning of the section,
we considered the cost C(w) of mailing
a first-class letter with weight w.
• In effect, this is a piecewise-defined function because, from the
table of values, we have:

.39 if 0  w  1
.63 if 1  w  2

.87 if 2  w  3

C ( w)  1.11 if 3  w  4
.

.
.

PIECEWISE-DEFINED FUNCTIONS Example 10
The graph is shown here.
You can see why functions like this are called
step functions—they jump from one value
to the next.
SYMMETRY: EVEN FUNCTION

If a function f satisfies f(-x) = f(x) for

every number x in its domain, then f
is called an even function.
• For instance, the function f(x) = x2 is even
because f(-x) = (-x)2 = x2 = f(x)
SYMMETRY: EVEN FUNCTION

The geometric significance of an even

function is that its graph is symmetric with
respect to the y–axis.
 This means that, if we
have plotted the graph of f
for x  0 , we obtain
the entire graph simply
by reflecting this portion
about the y-axis.
SYMMETRY: ODD FUNCTION

If f satisfies f(-x) = -f(x) for every

number x in its domain, then f is called
an odd function.
• For example, the function f(x) = x3 is odd
because f(-x) = (-x)3 = -x3 = -f(x)
SYMMETRY: ODD FUNCTION

The graph of an odd function is

symmetric about the origin.
 If we already have the graph of f for x  0 ,
we can obtain the entire graph by rotating
this portion through 180° about the origin.
SYMMETRY Example 11
Determine whether each of these functions
is even, odd, or neither even nor odd.

a. f(x) = x5 + x

b. g(x) = 1 - x4

c. h(x) = 2x - x2
SYMMETRY Example 11 a

f (  x )  (  x)  (  x)  ( 1) x  ( x)
5 5 5

  x  x  ( x  x )
5 5

  f ( x)
Thus, f is an odd function.
SYMMETRY Example 11 b

g (  x)  1  (  x )  1  x  g ( x)
4 4

So, g is even.
SYMMETRY Example 11 c

h( x)  2( x)  ( x)  2 x  x 2 2

 
Since h(-x) h(x) and h(-x) -h(x),
we conclude that h is neither even nor odd.
SYMMETRY Example 11

The graphs of the functions in the

example are shown.
• The graph of h is symmetric neither about the y-axis
nor about the origin.
INCREASING AND DECREASING FUNCTIONS

This graph rises from A to B, falls from

B to C, and rises again from C to D.
INCREASING AND DECREASING FUNCTIONS
The function f is said to be increasing on
the interval [a, b], decreasing on [b, c], and
increasing again on [c, d].
INCREASING AND DECREASING FUNCTIONS
Notice that, if x1and x2 are any two numbers
between a and b with x1 < x2, then f(x1) < f(x2).
• We use this as the defining property of
an increasing function.
INCREASING AND DECREASING FUNCTIONS
A function f is called increasing on
an interval I if:
f(x1) < f(x2) whenever x1 < x2 in I

It is called decreasing on I if:

f(x1) > f(x2) whenever x1 < x2 in I
INCREASING FUNCTION
In the definition of an increasing function,
it is important to realize that the inequality
f(x1) < f(x2) must be satisfied for every pair of
numbers x1 and x2 in I with x1 < x2.
INCREASING AND DECREASING FUNCTIONS
You can see from the figure that the function
f(x) = x2 is decreasing on the interval (, 0]
and increasing on the interval [0,  . )