LECTURE ON FUNCTIONS
Many relationships in life involve two variables in such a way that the value of one
variable depends on the value of the other. An example of this is the tax of one
person depends on his income. Another example is the distance travelled by a car
in a given time depends on its speed.
One particular thing that can be observed with these relationships is that to every
value of independent variable there corresponds one and only one value of the
dependent variable. This type of correspondence is called function (f).
Definition: A function f from a set X into a set Y is a correspondence that assigns
to each element x in X exactly one element y in Y. It is a relation in which there
are no two ordered pairs having the same first element. A function can be
presented in a variety of ways.
X Y
x1 y1
x2 y2
x3 y3
. .
. .
. .
xn yn
(x1,y1), (x2,y2), (x3,y3),…,(xn,yn)
y=x
where y is the dependent variable and x is the independent
variable
f(x) = x
Ways to write a function
1. Roster Method
T = { (1,2), (2,3), (3,4) (4,5) (5,6) }
2. Tabular Method
x 1 2 3 4 5
y 2 3 4 5 6
3. Venn Diagram
X Y
4. Rule Method T = {(x,y) I y = x+1}
5. Graphical Method
Evaluation of Functions
Evaluate each of the following functions at f(-2); f(-1); f(0); f(1); f(2)
1. f(x) = 2x + 4
f(-2) = 2(-2) + 4 = -4 + 4=0
f(-1) = 2(-1) + 4= -2 + 4= 2
f(0)= 2(0) + 4= 4
f(1) = 2(1) +4 = 6
f(2) = 2(2) + 4 = 8
x -2 -1 0 1 2
f(x) = 2x + 4 0 2 4 6 8
2. f(x) = 3x2 – 4x + 2
3. f(x) = x2 - 1
4. f(x) = 3x - 1
5. f(x) = x2 – 2x + 1
Combination of Functions
A. Given the functions f(x) = x2 + 3x + 2 g(x) = x + 2, find:
1. f(x) + g(x) = (x2 + 3x + 2) + (x + 2) = x2 + 4x + 4
2. f(x) – g(x) =(x2 + 3x + 2) - (x + 2)= x2 + 3x + 2 -x – 2 = x2 + 2x
3. f(x) g(x)= (x2 + 3x + 2) (x + 2) = x3 + 3x2 + 2x +2x2 + 6x + 4 = x3 + 5x2 + 8x +4
4. f(x)/g(x) = x2 + 3x + 2 / x + 2 = (x + 2) (x+1) / (x+2) = x+1
B. Given the functions
B.1 f(x) = 2x + 4 g(x) = 3x – 1
B.2 f(x) = 3x2 – 4x + 2 g(x) = 3x – 1
find:
1. f(x) + g(x)
2. f(x) – g(x)
3. f(x) g(x)
4. f(x)/g(x)
Composite Functions
A. f(x) = x2 + 3x + 2 g(x) = x + 2
Find:
1. f(g(x)) = (x+2)2 + 3(x+2) + 2 = x2 +4x+4 +3x +6+2= x2 +7x+12
2. g(f(x)) = x + 2 = x2 + 3x + 2 +2= x2 + 3x + 4
Find f(g(x)) and g(f(x)) in each of the following:
B. f(x) = 3x2 – 4x + 2 g(x) = 3x - 1
C. f(x)= x2 - 1 g(x)= 3x - 1
D. f(x) = x2 – 2x + 1 g(x) = x2 - 1