Section 3-4 : The Definition Of A Function

We now need to move into the second topic of this chapter. Before we do that however
we need a quick definition taken care of.

Definition of Relation

A relation is a set of ordered pairs.

This seems like an odd definition but we’ll need it for the definition of a function (which is
the main topic of this section). However, before we actually give the definition of a
function let’s see if we can get a handle on just what a relation is.

Think back to Example 1 in the Graphing section of this chapter. In that example we
constructed a set of ordered pairs we used to sketch the graph
of y=(x−1)2−4y=(x−1)2−4. Here are the ordered pairs that we used.
(−2,5)(−1,0)(0,−3)(1,−4)(2,−3)(3,0)(4,5)(−2,5)(−1,0)(0,−3)(1,−4)(2,−3)(3,0)
(4,5)

Any of the following are then relations because they consist of a set of ordered pairs.

{(−2,5)(−1,0)(2,−3)}{(−1,0)(0,−3)(2,−3)(3,0)(4,5)}{(3,0)(4,5)}{(−2,5)(−1,0)
(0,−3)(1,−4)(2,−3)(3,0)(4,5)}{(−2,5)(−1,0)(2,−3)}{(−1,0)(0,−3)(2,−3)(3,0)
(4,5)}{(3,0)(4,5)}{(−2,5)(−1,0)(0,−3)(1,−4)(2,−3)(3,0)(4,5)}

There are of course many more relations that we could form from the list of ordered
pairs above, but we just wanted to list a few possible relations to give some examples.
Note as well that we could also get other ordered pairs from the equation and add those
into any of the relations above if we wanted to.

Now, at this point you are probably asking just why we care about relations and that is a
good question. Some relations are very special and are used at almost all levels of
mathematics. The following definition tells us just which relations are these special
relations.

Definition of a Function

A function is a relation for which each value from the set the first components
of the ordered pairs is associated with exactly one value from the set of
second components of the ordered pair.

Okay, that is a mouth full. Let’s see if we can figure out just what it means. Let’s take a
look at the following example that will hopefully help us figure all this out.
Example 1 The following relation is a function.{(−1,0)(0,−3)(2,−3)(3,0)(4,5)}
{(−1,0)(0,−3)(2,−3)(3,0)(4,5)}
Hide Solution 

From these ordered pairs we have the following sets of first components
(i.e. the first number from each ordered pair) and second components (i.e. the
second number from each ordered pair).

1st components : {−1,0,2,3,4}2nd components : {0,−3,0,5}1st components : {−1,0,2,3,

4}2nd components : {0,−3,0,5}

For the set of second components notice that the “-3” occurred in two ordered
pairs but we only listed it once.

To see why this relation is a function simply pick any value from the set of first
components. Now, go back up to the relation and find every ordered pair in
which this number is the first component and list all the second components
from those ordered pairs. The list of second components will consist of exactly
one value.

For example, let’s choose 2 from the set of first components. From the relation
we see that there is exactly one ordered pair with 2 as a first component,(2,−3)
(2,−3). Therefore, the list of second components (i.e. the list of values from the
set of second components) associated with 2 is exactly one number, -3.

Note that we don’t care that -3 is the second component of a second ordered
par in the relation. That is perfectly acceptable. We just don’t want there to be
any more than one ordered pair with 2 as a first component.

We looked at a single value from the set of first components for our quick
example here but the result will be the same for all the other choices.
Regardless of the choice of first components there will be exactly one second
component associated with it.

Therefore, this relation is a function.

In order to really get a feel for what the definition of a function is telling us we should
probably also check out an example of a relation that is not a function.

Example 2 The following relation is not a function.{(6,10)(−7,3)(0,4)(6,−4)}

{(6,10)(−7,3)(0,4)(6,−4)}
Hide Solution 

Don’t worry about where this relation came from. It is just one that we made
up for this example.

Here is the list of first and second components

1st components : {6,−7,0}2nd components : {10,3,4,−4}1st components : {6,−7,0}2nd 

components : {10,3,4,−4}
From the set of first components let’s choose 6. Now, if we go up to the
relation we see that there are two ordered pairs with 6 as a first
component : (6,10)(6,10) and (6,−4)(6,−4). The list of second components
associated with 6 is then : 10, -4.

The list of second components associated with 6 has two values and so this
relation is not a function.

Note that the fact that if we’d chosen -7 or 0 from the set of first components
there is only one number in the list of second components associated with
each. This doesn’t matter. The fact that we found even a single value in the
set of first components with more than one second component associated
with it is enough to say that this relation is not a function.

As a final comment about this example let’s note that if we removed the first
and/or the fourth ordered pair from the relation we would have a function!

So, hopefully you have at least a feeling for what the definition of a function is telling us.

Now that we’ve forced you to go through the actual definition of a function let’s give
another “working” definition of a function that will be much more useful to what we are
doing here.

The actual definition works on a relation. However, as we saw with the four relations we
gave prior to the definition of a function and the relation we used in Example 1 we often
get the relations from some equation.

It is important to note that not all relations come from equations! The relation from the
second example for instance was just a set of ordered pairs we wrote down for the
example and didn’t come from any equation. This can also be true with relations that
are functions. They do not have to come from equations.

However, having said that, the functions that we are going to be using in this course do
all come from equations. Therefore, let’s write down a definition of a function that
acknowledges this fact.
Before we give the “working” definition of a function we need to point out that this is
NOT the actual definition of a function, that is given above. This is simply a good
“working definition” of a function that ties things to the kinds of functions that we will be
working with in this course.

“Working Definition” of Function

A function is an equation for which any xx that can be plugged into the
equation will yield exactly one yy out of the equation.

There it is. That is the definition of functions that we’re going to use and will probably be
easier to decipher just what it means.

Before we examine this a little more note that we used the phrase “ xx that can be
plugged into” in the definition. This tends to imply that not all xx’s can be plugged into
an equation and this is in fact correct. We will come back and discuss this in more detail
towards the end of this section, however at this point just remember that we can’t divide
by zero and if we want real numbers out of the equation we can’t take the square root of
a negative number. So, with these two examples it is clear that we will not always be
able to plug in every xx into any equation.
Further, when dealing with functions we are always going to assume that
both xx and yy will be real numbers. In other words, we are going to forget that we
know anything about complex numbers for a little bit while we deal with this section.

Okay, with that out of the way let’s get back to the definition of a function and let’s look
at some examples of equations that are functions and equations that aren’t functions.

Example 3 Determine which of the following equations are functions and

which are not functions.

1. y=5x+1y=5x+1
2. y=x2+1y=x2+1
3. y2=x+1y2=x+1
4. x2+y2=4x2+y2=4

Show All Solutions Hide All Solutions

Show Discussion 
a y=5x+1y=5x+1 Show Solution 
b y=x2+1y=x2+1 Show Solution 
c y2=x+1y2=x+1 Show Solution 
d x2+y2=4x2+y2=4 Show Solution 
Hopefully these examples have given you a better feel for what a function actually is.

We now need to move onto something called function notation. Function notation will
be used heavily throughout most of the remaining chapters in this course and so it is
important to understand it.

Let’s start off with the following quadratic equation.

y=x2−5x+3y=x2−5x+3

We can use a process similar to what we used in the previous set of examples to
convince ourselves that this is a function. Since this is a function we will denote it as
follows,

f(x)=x2−5x+3f(x)=x2−5x+3
So, we replaced the yy with the notation f(x)f(x). This is read as “f of xx”. Note that
there is nothing special about the ff we used here. We could just have easily used any
of the following,
g(x)=x2−5x+3h(x)=x2−5x+3R(x)=x2−5x+3g(x)=x2−5x+3h(x)=x2−5x+3R(x)=
x2−5x+3
The letter we use does not matter. What is important is the “ (x)(x)” part. The letter in
the parenthesis must match the variable used on the right side of the equal sign.
It is very important to note that f(x)f(x) is really nothing more than a really fancy way of
writing yy. If you keep that in mind you may find that dealing with function notation
becomes a little easier.
Also, this is NOT a multiplication of ff by xx! This is one of the more common mistakes
people make when they first deal with functions. This is just a notation used to denote
functions.
Next we need to talk about evaluating functions. Evaluating a function is really nothing
more than asking what its value is for specific values of xx. Another way of looking at it
is that we are asking what the yy value for a given xx is.

Evaluation is really quite simple. Let’s take the function we were looking at above

f(x)=x2−5x+3f(x)=x2−5x+3
and ask what its value is for x=4x=4. In terms of function notation we will “ask” this
using the notation f(4)f(4). So, when there is something other than the variable inside
the parenthesis we are really asking what the value of the function is for that particular
quantity.
Now, when we say the value of the function we are really asking what the value of the
equation is for that particular value of xx. Here is f(4)f(4).
f(4)=(4)2−5(4)+3=16−20+3=−1f(4)=(4)2−5(4)+3=16−20+3=−1
Notice that evaluating a function is done in exactly the same way in which we evaluate
equations. All we do is plug in for xx whatever is on the inside of the parenthesis on the
left. Here’s another evaluation for this function.
f(−6)=(−6)2−5(−6)+3=36+30+3=69f(−6)=(−6)2−5(−6)+3=36+30+3=69
So, again, whatever is on the inside of the parenthesis on the left is plugged in for xx in
the equation on the right. Let’s take a look at some more examples.
Example
4 Given f(x)=x2−2x+8f(x)=x2−2x+8 and g(x)=√ x+6 g(x)=x+6 evaluate each
of the following.

1. f(3)f(3) and g(3)g(3)
2. f(−10)f(−10) and g(−10)g(−10)
3. f(0)f(0)
4. f(t)f(t)
5. f(t+1)f(t+1) and f(x+1)f(x+1)
6. f(x3)f(x3)
7. g(x2−5)g(x2−5)

Show All Solutions Hide All Solutions

a f(3)f(3) and g(3)g(3) Show Solution 
b f(−10)f(−10) and g(−10)g(−10) Show Solution 
c f(0)f(0) Show Solution 
d f(t)f(t) Show Solution 
e f(t+1)f(t+1) and f(x+1)f(x+1) Show Solution 
f f(x3)f(x3) Show Solution 
g g(x2−5)g(x2−5) Show Solution 

Function evaluation is something that we’ll be doing a lot of in later sections and
chapters so make sure that you can do it. You will find several later sections very
difficult to understand and/or do the work in if you do not have a good grasp on how
function evaluation works.

While we are on the subject of function evaluation we should now talk about piecewise
functions. We’ve actually already seen an example of a piecewise function even if we
didn’t call it a function (or a piecewise function) at the time. Recall the mathematical
definition of absolute value.

|x|={xif x≥0−xif x<0|x|={xif x≥0−xif x<0

This is a function and if we use function notation we can write it as follows,

f(x)={xif x≥0−xif x<0f(x)={xif x≥0−xif x<0
This is also an example of a piecewise function. A piecewise function is nothing more
than a function that is broken into pieces and which piece you use depends upon value
of xx. So, in the absolute value example we will use the top piece if xx is positive or
zero and we will use the bottom piece if xx is negative.

Let’s take a look at evaluating a more complicated piecewise function.

Example
5 Given,g(t)=⎧⎪⎨⎪⎩3t2+4if t≤−410if −4<t≤151−6tif t>15g(t)={3t2+4if t≤−4
10if −4<t≤151−6tif t>15

evaluate each of the following.

1. g(−6)g(−6)
2. g(−4)g(−4)
3. g(1)g(1)
4. g(15)g(15)
5. g(21)g(21)

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Show Discussion 
a g(−6)g(−6) Show Solution 
b g(−4)g(−4) Show Solution 
c g(1)g(1) Show Solution 
d g(15)g(15) Show Solution 
e g(21)g(21) Show Solution 

Piecewise functions do not arise all that often in an Algebra class however, they do
arise in several places in later classes and so it is important for you to understand them
if you are going to be moving on to more math classes.
As a final topic we need to come back and touch on the fact that we can’t always plug
every xx into every function. We talked briefly about this when we gave the definition of
the function and we saw an example of this when we were evaluating functions. We
now need to look at this in a little more detail.

First, we need to get a couple of definitions out of the way.

Domain and Range

The domain of an equation is the set of all xx’s that we can plug into the
equation and get back a real number for yy. The range of an equation is the
set of all yy’s that we can ever get out of the equation.

Note that we did mean to use equation in the definitions above instead of functions.
These are really definitions for equations. However, since functions are also equations
we can use the definitions for functions as well.

Determining the range of an equation/function can be pretty difficult to do for many

functions and so we aren’t going to really get into that. We are much more interested
here in determining the domains of functions. From the definition the domain is the set
of all xx’s that we can plug into a function and get back a real number. At this point, that
means that we need to avoid division by zero and taking square roots of negative
numbers.

Let’s do a couple of quick examples of finding domains.

Example 6 Determine the domain of each of the following functions.

1. g(x)=x+3x2+3x−10g(x)=x+3x2+3x−10
2. f(x)=√ 5−3x f(x)=5−3x
3. h(x)=√ 7x+8 x2+4h(x)=7x+8x2+4
4. R(x)=√ 10x−5 x2−16R(x)=10x−5x2−16

Show All Solutions Hide All Solutions

Show Discussion 
a g(x)=x+3x2+3x−10g(x)=x+3x2+3x−10 Show Solution 
b f(x)=√ 5−3x f(x)=5−3x Show Solution 
c h(x)=√ 7x+8 x2+4h(x)=7x+8x2+4 Show Solution 
d R(x)=√ 10x−5 x2−16R(x)=10x−5x2−16 Show Solution