Functionsandpigeonholeprinciple

History and applications
• Pure and applied mathematics
2

Definition of Functions
• Given any sets A and B, a function f from
(or “mapping”) A to B (f:A→B) is an
assignment of exactly one / unique element
f(x)B to each element xA.
Note: Every element of A must be related to
some element of B
Any element of A must be related to a unique
element of B

Graphical Representations
• Functions can be represented graphically in
several ways:
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A
B
a b
f
f
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• x
y
Plot
Graph
Like Venn diagrams
A B

Representations
• State the rule
– f:X→Y, f(x)=2x
• Tabular Form
– x: -2 1 3 4 6
– f(x): 8 2 7 9 21
• Ordered pair
– F={(-2,8),(1,2),(3,7),(4,9),(6,21)}
5

Definition of Functions (cont’d)
• Formally: given f:A→B
“x is a function” : (x,y: x=y  f(x)  f(y)) or
“x is a function” : ( x,y: (x=y)  (f(x)  f(y))) or
“x is a function” : ( x,y: (x=y)  (f(x) = f(y))) or
“x is a function” : ( x,y: (x=y) → (f(x) = f(y))) or
“x is a function” : ( x,y: (f(x)  f(y)) → (x  y))

Some Function Terminology
• If f:A→B, and f(a)=b (where aA & bB),
then:
– A is the domain of f.
– B is the codomain of f.
– b is the image of a under f.
– a is a pre-image of b under f.
• In general, b may have more than one pre-image.
– The range RB of f is {b | a f(a)=b }.

Range vs. Codomain - Example
• Suppose that: “f is a function mapping
students in this class to the set of grades
{A,B,C,D,E}.”
• At this point, you know f’s codomain is:
__________, and its range is ________.
• Suppose the grades turn out all As and Bs.
• Then the range of f is _________, but its
codomain is __________________.
{A,B,C,D,E} unknown!
{A,B}
still {A,B,C,D,E}!

Function Addition/Multiplication
• We can add and multiply functions
f,g:R→R:
– (f + g):R→R, where (f + g)(x) = f(x) + g(x)
– (f × g):R→R, where (f × g)(x) = f(x) × g(x)

Function Composition
• For functions g:A→B and f:B→C, there is a
special operator called compose (“○”).
– It composes (i.e., creates) a new function out of f,g by
applying f to the result of g.
(f○g):A→C, where (f○g)(a) = f(g(a)).
– Note g(a)B, so f(g(a)) is defined and C.
– The range of g must be a subset of f’s domain!!
– Note that ○ (like Cartesian , but unlike +,,) is non-
commuting. (In general, f○g  g○f.)

One-to-One Functions
• A function is one-to-one (1-1), or injective,
or an injection, iff every element of its
range has only one pre-image.
• Only one element of the domain is mapped
to any given one element of the range.
– Domain & range have same cardinality. What
about codomain?

One-to-One Functions (cont’d)
• Formally: given f:A→B
“x is injective” : (x,y: xy  f(x)=f(y)) or
“x is injective” : ( x,y: (xy)  (f(x)=f(y))) or
“x is injective” : ( x,y: (xy)  (f(x)  f(y))) or
“x is injective” : ( x,y: (xy) → (f(x)  f(y))) or
“x is injective” : ( x,y: (f(x)=f(y)) → (x =y))

One-to-One Illustration
• Graph representations of functions that are
(or not) one-to-one:
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One-to-one
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Not one-to-one
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Not even a
function!

Sufficient Conditions for 1-1ness
• Definitions (for functions f over numbers):
– f is strictly (or monotonically) increasing iff
x>y → f(x)>f(y) for all x,y in domain;
– f is strictly (or monotonically) decreasing iff
x>y → f(x)<f(y) for all x,y in domain;
• If f is either strictly increasing or strictly
decreasing, then f is one-to-one.
– e.g. f(x)=x3

Onto (Surjective) Functions
• A function f:A→B is onto or surjective or a
surjection iff its range is equal to its
codomain (bB, aA: f(a)=b).
• An onto function maps the set A onto (over,
covering) the entirety of the set B, not just
over a piece of it.

Illustration of Onto
• Some functions that are or are not onto their
codomains:
Onto
(but not 1-1)
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Not Onto
(not 1-1)
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Both 1-1
and onto
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1-1 but
not onto
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Bijections
• A function f is a one-to-one
correspondence, or a bijection, or
reversible, or invertible, iff it is both one-
to-one and onto.

Inverse of a Function
• For bijections f:A→B, there exists an
inverse of f, written f −1:B→A, which is the
unique function such that:
Iff =−
1

Inverse of a function (cont’d)

The Identity Function
• For any domain A, the identity function
I:A→A (variously written, IA, 1, 1A) is the
unique function such that aA: I(a)=a.
• Some identity functions you’ve seen:
– ing with T, ing with F, ing with , ing
with U.
• Note that the identity function is both one-
to-one and onto (bijective).

• The identity function:
Identity Function Illustrations
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Domain and range x
y

Graphs of Functions
• We can represent a function f:A→B as a set
of ordered pairs {(a,f(a)) | aA}.
• Note that a, there is only one pair (a, f(a)).
• For functions over numbers, we can
represent an ordered pair (x,y) as a point on
a plane. A function is then drawn as a curve
(set of points) with only one y for each x.

  
  
• If n pigeons fly into m pigeonholes and n >
m, then at least one hole must contain two or
more pigeons
Pigeonhole Principle

Pigeonhole Principle
• Basic Form of the Pigeonhole Principle: A
function from one finite set to a smaller finite set
cannot be one-to-one: there must be at least two
elements in the domain that have the same image in
the co-domain
• An arrow diagram for a function from a finite set to
a smaller finite set must have at least two arrows
from the domain that point to the same element in
the codomain.
• Next is some of the examples on how to apply the
pigeonhole principle.

• In a group of 6 people, must there be at least 2 who
were born in the same month?
Not. Six people could have birthdays in each of the
six months Jan to June
Example (1)

• In a group of thirteen people, must there be at least
two who were born in the same month?
Yes. For there are only 12 months in a year and
number of people  number of months (13  12)
Example (2)

• A drawer contains 10 black and 10 white socks. You
pull some out without looking at them. What is the
least number of socks you must pull out to be sure
to get a matched pair?
Three. If you just pick two, they may have different
colors.
Example (3)

• Let A = {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8}
(a) If five integers are selected from A, must at least
one pair of the integers have a sum of 9?
Yes. Partition the set A into {1,8}, {2,7}, {3,6}, and
{4,5}. The function P is defined by letting P(ai) be
the subset that contains ai.
(b) If four are selected? No.
Example (4)

If n pigeons fly into m pigeonholes and for some
positive integer, k, n  km, then at least one
pigeonhole contains k + 1 or more pigeons.
Generalized Form of Pigeonhole Principle: For any
function f from a finite set X to a finite set Y and for
any positive integer k, if n(X) > k  n(Y), then there is
some y Y such that y is the image of at least k+1
distinct elements of X.
i.e. f(x1)=f(x2)= …=f(xk+1)=y.
Generalized Pigeonhole Principle

Functionsandpigeonholeprinciple

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