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Chapter 3: Functions and their graphs

Learning outcome
Upon completion of this chapter, students should be able to:
 Identify a function
 Find the domain and range
 Find combination, one to one and inverse of functions
 Sketch graphs

3.1. Relations and Functions

3.1.1. Definition of a Relationship

The relation between two sets is the correspondence between elements of one set (first
set called domain) and elements of the other set (second set called codomain). For
example:

To each person there corresponds an age.

To each item in store there corresponds a price.
To each automobile there corresponds a license number.
To each circle there corresponds an area.
This tree grows 15 cm every year. So we can say that the height is

related to its age using the function H (age)  age 15 .

So when the age is 20, H ( 20)  20 15  300 .

For each of the above there is a correspondence or relation between two sets of items,
things or ojects. These two things are connected or related to each other. Such realtion
can be represented by using arrow diagrams, ordered pairs or graphs. Let us consider the
following example with the relation as:

Example : Given the set S  {(0 ,3), (1, 4), (2, 5), (3, 6), (4,7)} is the set order
pairs for a relation.
(a) What is the image for object 1?
(b) What is the object for image 7?
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(c) Write down in words to show the relation.

(d) What is the domain, codomain and range of the relation?
(e) Represent the realtion above in the form of arrow diagram.

Solution
(a) 4
(b) 4
(c) The coordinate of y is 3+ coordinate of x. ( y  3  x ).
(d) Domain  {0,1, 2, 3, 4} , codomain  {3, 4, 5, 6, 7} , and range
 {3, 4, 5, 6, 7} .

(e)

3.1.2. Definition of a Function

A function relates each element of a set with exactly one element of another set
(possibly the same set).

1 a

2 6 b

3 c

X Y
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Example: This relationship is not a function

It is a relation, but it is not a function, for these reasons:

 Value "3" in X has no relation in Y

 Value "4" in X has no relation in Y
 Value "5" is related to more than one value in Y

Example 3.1:

Determine whether the f ( x)  2 x  1 is a function or not? why?

Solution

In the equation y  2 x  1 ,

y is a function of x , since for each value of x , there is only one value of y .

If we substitute x  3 , we get y  7 and no other value.

The values of y we get depend on the values chosen for x .

Therefore, x is the input (also can be said the independent variable) and y is the
output (also can be said the dependent variable).

Example 3.2:

Is y  x 2 a function?

Yes, since for any x we take, we will get only one value for y
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3.1.3. Domain and Range

The domain of a function is the set of all possible x values which will make the
function "work" (defined) and provide real y-values as output.

Example 3.3:

Given f ( x)  x  1 .

What numbers can be substituted for x , so that f (x) can be defined?

Solution

Refer to the function f ( x)  x  1 , so we can obtain the following table

x f (x )

3 2

2 1

1 0

0 1

0 .5 1 .5

1 2

etc etc

We found that for any real number x, f (x) can be defined, In this case, x can be any
number located on the real number line, so we can say the domain of f is the set  of
all real number.

The Range is the set of all possible output values (usually y or f (x) ), which depends
on the possible input values x .

For the above example, range f (x) is also the set  of all real number.
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Note: When finding the domain, remember:

 The denominator (bottom) of a fraction cannot be zero

 The values under a square root sign must be non-negative.

Example 3.4:

1
Find domain and range of the function y  .
5 x  10

Solution

1
Step 1: Given y  .
5 x  10

Step 2: To find the domain

1
Set the denominator of the given function y  to zero and solve for x:
5 x  10

5 x  10  0

Subtracting 10 on both sides, we get

5 x  10

Divide 5 on both sides, therefore

x  2

Therefore, the domain of a given function is all real numbers except for x  2 .
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Step 3: To find the range

Since the domain of a given function is all real numbers except for x  2 , f (x) will
never be equal to zero. Therefore, the range for the given function is all real numbers
except 0.

Example 3.5:

Find the domain and range of y x 1 .

Step 1: x  1  0 , therefore the domain is x  1 .

Step 2: When x  1 , y  0 , as x increases, y also increases, so the range is y0

.

Example 3.6:

Find the domain and range of y  3 x  1 .

Step 1: Here, we got an odd number root; therefore x can be any real values.

Step 2: Since x can take any real values, y also can take any real values.

Note: We will see more examples on how to find domain and range in the next section.

3.2. Graphs of Functions

The graph of a function is the set of all points whose co-ordinates ( x, y ) satisfy the
function y  f (x) . This means that for each x -value there is a corresponding y -
value. The y -value will be obtained when we substitute the x -value into the
expression f (x) .
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Since there is no limit to the possible number of points for the graph of the function, we
will follow this procedure:

(1) Select a few values of x.

(2) Obtain the corresponding values of the function y.

(3) Plot these points by joining them with a smooth curve.

Graph of Linear functions

Example 3.7: Draw the graph of y  3 x  4 .

Linear graphs are always in the form of y  mx  c , where m is the gradient or the slope
of the graph and c is the intercept at the y axis. When you plot a linear graph, you will
obtain a straight line as shown in Figure 3.1

Figure 3.1: Linear graph (slope is positive)

Example 3.8:

Draw the graph of f ( x)  3 x  4 .

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Now, you will notice that the gradient is negative, so you will obtain a graph as in Figure
3.2

Figure 3.2: Linear graph (slope is negative)

Basic Quadratic Graphs

In chapter 2, we have seen that a quadratic graph is a U shape graph or parabolic. The
simplest form of quadratic graph of y  x 2 , as shown in Figure 3.3.

Figure 3.3: Quadratic graph of the function y  x 2 .

In the next chapter, we will look, how to graph the rational functions.
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Vertical Line Test

On a graph, the idea of single valued means that no vertical line would ever cross more
than one value.

If it crosses more than once it is still a valid curve, but it would not be a function.

Example 3.9:

Which of the following graph is not a function?

A
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D
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Solution

The vertical line test tells us that no vertical line would ever cross more than one value.

But not for B, so B is not a function. Remember a function y = f(x) for each x has one
value of y. This graph has two values of y for the same value of x.

Finding Domain and Range from a graph

Example 3.10:

Find the domain and range of y x4 .

Solution

x y
5 1  Real number
4 00
3 1 1
2 2  1.4122
0 42
1 5  2.2361

The graph of the function y  x4 is as follows:

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Range,

The domain of the function is x  4 , since x cannot take values less than −4. If
x  4 then the value under a square root sign will be negative, and this cannot be
defined under the real number system. The only one that satisfy the condition and give
us an answer are the ones greater than or equal to −4.

Example 3.11:

Find the domain and range for the function f ( x)  x 2  2 .

Solution

f ( x)  x 2  2 is defined for all real values of x. Hence, the domain of f(x) is the set of all
real values of x.

[Note: x2 is always positive, no matter what the values of you take]

Hence, the range of f(x) is "all real numbers f(x) ≥ 2".

We can see that x can be substitute by any value as shown in Figure 3.3, but the resulting
y = f(x) values are greater than or equal to 2.
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Range

Domain

Figure 3.3: The graph of the function f ( x)  x 2  2 .

Piecewise – Defined Functions

A piecewise function is usually defined by more than one formula: a formula for each
interval.

Example 3.12:

Sketch the graph of the function defined by

2 x if x  0
f ( x)  
1 if x  0

Solution The graph is shown in Figure 3.4 below

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Figure 3.4: The graph of function in example 3.12.

Example 3.13: Sketch the graph of the function defined by

 x 2 if x  1
f ( x)  
2 x  1 if x 1

Solution

The graph is shown in Figure 3.5 below

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Figure 3.5: The graph of function in example 3.13.

3.3 Combination of Functions

Combining functions arithmetically is actually adding, subtracting, multiplying, or

dividing the functions together

Let A and B be the domains of f (x) and g (x ) respectively, then

( f  g ) ( x )  f ( x)  g ( x), domain A  B
The symbol  means
( f  g ) ( x)  f ( x )  g ( x), domain A  B
intersection.
( f  g ) ( x)  f ( x)  g ( x ), domain A  B  
 f  f ( x)
  ( x )  , domain A  B , g ( x )  0
g
  g ( x)

Example 3.14:

Let f ( x)  x  1 and g ( x)  x 2  x  1 . Find

(i) ( f  g )(3)
(ii) ( f  g )(1)
(iii) ( fg )( x )
 f 
(iv)  (x)
g

Solution

(i) ( f  g )(3)  f (3)  g (3)  (3  1)  (3 2  3  1)  17

(ii) ( f  g )(1)  f (1)  g (1)  (1  1)  (12  1  1)  1
(iii) ( fg )( x)  f ( x)  g ( x)  ( x  1)( x 2  x  1)  x 3  2 x 2  2 x  1
 f  f ( x) x 1
(iv)  ( x)   2 .
g
  g ( x ) x  x 1

Example 3.15:

If f ( x)  x  5, g ( x)  x 2  3x  1 and h( x )  x2 , find

(a) ( f  g ) ( x) and its domain, (b) ( f  g )( x) and its domain,

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h 
(c)  (x) and its domain.
 f 

Solution

(a) ( f  g ) ( x)  f ( x )  g ( x)

= ( x  5)  ( x 2  3 x  1)

= x2  4x  6

To find the domain, since f ( x)  x  5 is a linear function, then the domain is real
number, x   . Also, since g ( x )  x 2  3 x  1 a quadratic function, therefore the
domain is real values, x   . Therefore the domain for ( f  g ) ( x) is any real numbers
x .

(b) ( f  g ) ( x)  f ( x )  g ( x )

= ( x  5)  ( x 2  3 x  1)

=  x2  2x  4

Similar to (a), the function ( f  g )( x) is a quadratic function then the domain is also a
real values, x   .

h
(c) 
 f

( x) 

h( x)
f ( x)
 x2
x 5

The domain would be, x  2, for h(x) and x  5 for f (x) , therefore intersection of
h 
these two domains would give us : x  2, x  5. So the domain for  (x ) is
 f 
x  2, x  5.

3.4 Composite Functions

A composition of functions occurs when you put one function into another. In effect, the
range of the one function becomes the domain of the second. The notation for
composition of functions is either.

Composition function is usually written as f ( g ( x))  ( f  g )( x) .

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The diagram shows the role of the domain and range of each function in the composition
of f ( g ( x )).

Example 3.16:

If f ( x)  x  1 and g ( x)  x 2  2 , find f ( g ( x)) .

Solution
f ( g ( x))  f ( x 2  2)
 ( x 2  2)  1
 x2  3

Since the domain for g ( x ) is any real number and after substituted into f (x) we will
obtained x 2  3 which also it is any real number. Therefore, the domain for f ( g ( x)) is
also any real number.

Example 3.17:

If f ( x)  1 and g ( x)  x  2 , find f ( g ( x)) .

x 1
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Solution

f ( g ( x))  f ( x  2)
1

( x  2)  1
1

x3

Now, even though the domain for g (x ) is any real number but when you insert in
f (x) the domain will no longer be any real number as in this case x  3 .

3.5 One to one function

A function is called one-to-one if different values of x produce the one value of y or

by other way if f ( x1 )  f ( x 2 ) whenever x1  x 2 ( or if f ( x1 )  f ( x 2 ) whenever

x1  x 2 ). Figure 3.6 shows a one to one function

X Y

1 A

2 B

3 C

Figure 3.6: One to one function

X Y

P 5
Q

R 9
Figure 3.7: A not One to one function
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Notice that P and Q in Figure 3.7 has the same image which is the value of 5 in Y.
Therefore, Figure 3.7 above is it show a Not one to one function.

Example 3.18:

Is f ( x)  x 2 a one to one function?

X Y

1 1

2 4

3 9

-2

Figure 3.8: A not One to one function

Notice that 2 and -2 in Figure 3.8 both has same image (output) 4, so f ( x)  x 2 is not
one to one.

Horizontal line test

A function is one to one if and only if no horizontal line intesects the graph more than
one time.
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Example 3.19:

Figure 3.9: A not One to one function

The horizontal line intersects more than one point on the graph. So Figure 3.9 shown
above a not one to one function.

Example 3.20:

Is the graph below a one to one function?

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Solution

The horizontal line intersects only once, so it is one to one.

3.6. The Inverse Functions

Only one-to-one functions have a unique inverse.

1. If the function is not one-to-one, the domain of the function must be restricted so
that a portion of the graph is one-to-one.
2. The domain of the function is equal to the range of the inverse. The range of the
function is equal to the domain of the inverse function.

The standard notation is f (x) for the function and f 1

( x ) for the inverse function.

A B

Set A is the domain for f (x) and set B is the range for f (x) .
1
For the inverse f ( x) :
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1 1
Set A is the range for f ( x ) and set B is the domain for f ( x) .

Figure 3.10 below shows the inverse of f (x) which is the reflection of f (x) through
the y  x line.

Figure 3.10: The graph of f (x) and inverse of f (x) which is they are reflect of on
the y  x line.

Finding inverse

If f (1)  3 , f (2)  5 and f (4)  7 , find f 1

(3) , f 1
(5) and f 1
( 7 ) .

Solution

f 1
(3)  1 , f 1
(5)  2 and f 1
( 7)  4
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Steps in finding inverse function of a one to one function

Step 1: Write f ( x)  y

Step 2: Solve for x

Step 3: Interchange x and y

Example 3.21:

Find the inverse function of. f ( x)  5 x  2

Solution

Step 1: f ( x)  5 x  2  y

Step 2: Solve the equation for (means make as the subject)

5x  y  2

y2
x
5

Step 3: Interchange x and y

x2
y
5

1 x2
So f ( x) 
5

Example 3.22:

Find the inverse of the following functions

(i) f ( x)  2 x  1
3
(ii) f ( x) 
x 1
(iii) y x 1
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Solution

(i) f ( x)  2 x  1

Step 1: f ( x)  2 x  1  y

Step 2: x  y  1
2

y 1 1 x 1
Step 3: x   f ( x) 
2 2

3
(ii) f ( x) 
x 1

3
Step 1: f ( x)  y
x 1

Step 2: y ( x  1)  3
xy  y  3
3 y
x 
y
1 3 x
f ( x) 
x

(iii) y x 1

Step 1: y x 1

Step 2: y 2  x  1  x  y 2  1

1
Step 3: f ( x)  x 2  1

3.7. Exercises
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1. Given g ( x )  x 2 and h( x )  3x  5 . Find the domain and range for both of the
functions.

2. Find the domains and range for the following functions.

(a) f ( x)  2 x  3 (b) h( x )  2 x  11

2 1
(c) g ( x )  (d) f ( x) 
x5 4x  5

1
3. If f ( x)  x  1, g ( x)  , find the following:
x 1

(a) f ( x)  g ( x) (b) ( g  f )( x)

(c) ( f  f )( x) (d) ( g  g )( x )

4. Given that f ( x)  2 x  1 , find g (x ) if

(a) (b) 1
( f  g )( x )  7 x  12 ( g  f )( x)  , x  1.
x 1

5. Given that f ( x )  x  3, g ( x )  2 x  1 and h( x)  x  3 . Find ( f  g )( x) and

( f  g  h)( x) .

6. Given that f ( x )  2 x  1 and g ( x)  x 2  x  1 , find the following:

(a) ( g  f )(2) (b) ( f  g )(3)

(c) ( f  g )( x  1)

7. Given g ( x)  ax 2  b . If g (1)  10 and g (3)  6 . Find the values of a

and b .

8. Find the functions ( f  g )( x ), ( g  f )( x), ( f  f )( x) and ( g  g )( x ) and their

domains for the following.

1
(a) f ( x)  3x  5 , g ( x) 
2

2
(b) f ( x)  , g ( x)  x 3  2 x
x
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1 x
(c) f ( x)  , g ( x) 
x x2

9. State whether the following is a one to one functions or not? and Why?.

(a) f ( x)  5 x  3 (b) f ( x)  4 x  3

(c) f ( x)  x 2  3x  5

10. Find the inverse of each of the following.

(a) f ( x)  x (b) f ( x)  x 2  2 x  3, x  3
x 1

(c) f ( x)  11x  72