Lecture 2

Properties of Functions

In this lecture we will study some properties of functions and how for some of
these functions define the inverse of it.

Definition (1) (even function)

If f is a function from X to Y and for every x ∈ X f (− x) = f ( x) , then f is

called even function.

Example: 1
f ( x) = x 2 − 3 is an even function defined on real number R because

f ( − x ) = ( − x ) 2 − 3 = x 2 − 3 = f ( x)

Definition (2) (odd function)

If f is a function from X to Y and for every x ∈ X f (− x) = − f ( x) , then f is

called Odd function.

Example: 2
f ( x) = x 3 is an odd function defined on real number R because

f ( − x ) = ( − x ) 3 = − x 3 = − f ( x)

Example: 3
f ( x) = x + 5 is a function defined on real number R which is not even or odd

function, because f (− x) = − x + 5 ≠ f ( x) also f (− x) = − x + 5 = −( x − 5) ≠ − f ( x) .

We can say any real valued functions must be even , odd, or not even not odd.

Definition (3) (one to one function)

If f is a function from X to Y and for every x1 , x 2 ∈ X such that x1 ≠ x 2 implies
f ( x1 ) ≠ f ( x 2 ) , then f is called one-one function.

1
This definition equivalent to " the function called one-one if
f ( x1 ) = f ( x 2 ) ⇒ x1 = x 2 "

Example: 4
The function f ( x) = x 2 − 3 defined on real number R, Is it one-one function or

not?
Solution
Let f ( x1 ) = f ( x 2 ) , then
x12 − 3 = x 22 − 3 ⇒ x12 = x 22 ⇒ x12 − x 22 = 0 ⇒ ( x1 − x 2 )( x1 + x 2 ) = 0 ⇒ x1 = x 2 or x1 = − x 2

So f is not one-one function

Definition (4) (Onto function)
If f is a function from X to Y and for every y ∈ Y there exist x ∈ X such that
y = f ( x) , then f is called onto function.

Not that from the definition the function to be onto if its Range equal to the
codomain Y, i.e. Y = f ( X )

Example: 5
If the function f : ℜ → ℜ such that f ( x) = x 2 − 3 , Is this function onto?
Solution
For every x ∈ ℜ ⇒ x 2 ≥ 0 ⇒ x 2 − 3 ≥ −3 , then f ( x) ≥ −3 . i.e., the range of the

function is [−3, ∞) ≠ ℜ , so the function is not onto function.

Definition (5) (inverse function)

If f is one-one and onto function from X to Y, then we can define an inverse
-1
function f from Y to X such that if f ( x) = y ⇔ x = f −1 ( y ) , i.e., f −1 ( f ( x)) = x for
every x ∈ X and f ( f −1 ( y )) = y for every y ∈ Y .

To find the inverse function of f we solve the equation y=f(x) to find x in terms
of y, i.e., x = g(y) then g is the inverse function of f

2
Elementary functions
1- Trigonometric Functions
- Definition: Consider an angle θ in standard position. Let P(x, y) be the point
of intersection of the terminal side and the circle of radius r ≠ 0 , see the Fig. 1.

Fig. 1

We define the sine and cosine functions and denote them by sin and cos,
respectively as follows
y x
sinθ = and cosθ = (2.1)
r r
- Using the sine and cosine functions, we define four more trigonometric
functions:
sinθ y
i) tangent function (denoted by tan): tanθ = = , cos θ ≠ 0
cosθ x
cosθ x
ii) cotangent function (denoted by cot): cot θ = = , sin θ ≠ 0
sin θ y
1 r
iii) secant function (denoted by sec) : secθ = = , cos θ ≠ 0
cosθ x
1 r
iv) cosecant function (denoted by csc): csc θ = = , sin θ ≠ 0
sin θ y

- From definition, the domain of sin θ and cosθ is R = (−∞, + ∞) and the range
of these two function is the interval [-1, 1].

3
- sin θ = 0 if and only if θ = k π for some integer k and cos θ = 0 if and only if
kπ
θ= for some odd integer k , therefore
2
π 3π
domain of tanθ = secθ = R − {± , ± ,........}
2 2
domain of cotθ = cscθ = R −{±π, ± 2π,........}

- The range of tanθ and cotθ is R = (−∞, + ∞) .

- Properties
From definition and using the Fig. 1 we can see the following properties.
1) The sine and cosine functions are periodic with period 2π , that is,
sin(θ +2π) =sinθ , for all θ ∈R ,
cos(θ +2π) = cosθ , for all θ ∈R ,
2) The tangent and cotangent functions is periodic with period π , that is,
tan(θ +π) = tanθ , for all θ in the domain of tanθ

cot(θ +π) = cotθ , for all θ in the domain of cotθ .

3) The sine, tangent and cotangent are odd sine functions and the cosine is
an even function, that is,
sin(−θ) =−sinθ , for all θ ∈R , (odd function)
cos(−θ) = cosθ , for all θ ∈R , (even function)

tan(−θ) =−tanθ , for all θ in the domain of tanθ (odd function)

cot(−θ) =−cotθ , for all θ in the domain of cotθ (odd function).

4) From (3), we see that the graphs of the sine function, tangent and
cotangent functions are symmetric about the origin and the graph of the
cosine function is symmetric about the y-axis. See Figures 2, 3 and 4.

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 Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Fig.4
- ASTC Rule: The signs of sine, cosine and tangent in each quadrant can be
S A
memorized using the following rule: , where C stands for cosine, A for
T C
all, S for sine and T for tangent—for example, C in the 4th quadrant means that

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if x is an angle in the fourth quadrant, then cos x is positive and the other two
values sin x and tan x are negative.
- The values of trigonometric functions for some special angles:
θ sin θ cosθ tanθ
0 0 1 0
π 1 1
= 30 o 3
6 2 2 3
π 1 1 1
= 45o
4 2 2
π 1
= 60 o 3 3
3 2 2
π 1 0 undefined
= 90 o
2

- Identities

1) sin 2 θ + cos 2 θ = 1 , for all θ ∈R .

Fig. 5: r in the Figure equals 1.

2) 1 + tan 2 θ = sec 2 θ , 1 + cot 2 θ = csc 2 θ .

3) Let a and b be real numbers. Then we have
sin(a +b) =sina cosb+cosa sinb , cos(a + b) = cosa cosb − sina sinb
sin(a −b) = sina cosb −cosa sinb, cos(a −b) = cosa cosb + sina sinb
5) From (3) we can prove that
sin(2a) = 2sina cosa , cos( 2 a ) = cos 2 a − sin 2 a

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6) From the last equation in (5) we have
1 1
sin 2 a = (1 − cos(2a)) , cos2 a = (1 + cos(2a))
2 2
7) From (3) we can obtain
tan a ± tan b
tan(a ± b) =
1 m tan a tan b
Problems
Study the following functions where they are defined from R to R

f (x) = x2 + 2 2
(a) (b) g(x) = x +1

1
( c ) h(x) = 2
1
(d) k ( x) =
x +5 x