Unit 5: ELEMENTARY FUNCTIONS

5.1.- LINEAR FUNCTIONS

A function that can be graphically represented in the Cartesian coordinate plane
by a straight line is called a linear function.

The equation of a linear function is

y  mx  b

m is the slope of the line and

b is the y-intercept

Examples: y  2x  5 , y  x  4

Remember that if m  0 , the line is an increasing function, and if m  0 , the line

is a decreasing function.

If m  0 , the equation of the function is

y b

This type of linear functions are called

constant functions.

Their graphs are horizontal lines.

Examples: y  1 , y  3 , y  0 .

If b  0 , the equation of the function is

y  mx

This type of linear functions are called

proportionality functions.

The variable “y” is directly proportional

y
to “x”. The constant ratio, m  ,
x
is called proportionality constant (or constant of proportionality). Their graphs
pass through the point  0, 0  .

Examples: y  2x , y  1.5x .

F. Cano Cuenca 1 Mathematics 4º ESO

If m  1 , the proportionality function is y = x , and
it is called identity function. This line is the angle
bisector of the first and third quadrants.

Exercise 1

To warn drivers of steep sections of road, slope is shown on roads signs as a

percentage. If that percentage was 6.5%, write a linear function “y” for the
number of kilometres that you go down when you cover “x” kilometres.

Exercise 2

A 500-liter tank full of oil is being drained at the constant rate of 20 litres per
minute.

a) Write a linear function “y” for the number of litres in the tank after “x”
minutes (assuming that the drainage started at x  0 ).
b) Find the y-intercept and interpret it.
c) How many litres are in the tank after 11 minutes and 45 seconds?

Piecewise linear functions

A piecewise function is a function f(x)
defined piecewise, that is f(x) is given by
different expressions on various intervals.

 x2 if x  2

f(x)   6 if x  2
 10  x if 2  x  6


a solid dot means “including”

an open dot means “not including”

If each function piece is a linear function,

we say that f(x) is a linear piecewise
function.

Example:

x2 if x  3
f(x)  
5 if x  3

F. Cano Cuenca 2 Mathematics 4º ESO

Exercise 3

Graph the following piecewise functions.

 2x if x  1  3 if x  0
 
a) f(x)    2 if  1  x  3 b) f(x)   2x  1 if 0  x  2
 x  5 if x  3 x if x  2
 

Exercise 4

Write the equation for the following piecewise functions.

a) b)

Exercise 5

A paperback sells for $12. The author is paid royalties of 10% on the first
10,000 copies sold, and 15% on any additional copies. Let “x” be the number of
copies sold.

a) Write a piecewise function for “T” (the total amount of royalties earned).
b) Make a graph of T(x).
c) How many copies have to be sold in order for the author to have earned
$30,000?

Exercise 6

You will be renting a car for a six-day trip and are comparing two rental options.
The first plan charges $50 per day, allows 500 miles for free, and charges 25
cents for each additional mile. The second plan charges $30 per day, allows 200
miles for free, and charges 35 cents for each additional mile.

a) Write a piecewise function for the cost of Plan 1 for a six-day trip of x
miles.
b) Write a piecewise function for the cost of Plan 2 for a six-day trip of x
miles.
c) Make a graph of both functions on the same set of axes.
d) After how many miles does Plan 1 become cheaper?

F. Cano Cuenca 3 Mathematics 4º ESO

5.2.- PARABOLAS AND QUADRATIC FUNCTIONS
If you kick a soccer ball (or shoot an arrow, fire a
missile or throw a stone) it will arc up into the air and
come down again following the path of a parabola.

A function whose graph is a parabola is called a

quadratic function.

The equation of a quadratic function is

y  ax2  bx  c , where a  0 .

Examples: y  x2 , y  x2  4 , y  3x2  2x  1

The domain of a quadratic function is .

The parabola will open upward or downward.

A parabola will have either an absolute minimum or an absolute maximum. This

point is called the vertex of the parabola.

There is a line of symmetry which will divide the graph into two halves. This line
is called the axis of symmetry of the parabola.

The parabola y = x2

The basic parabola is y  x2 .

The function is symmetrical about the x-axis.

Its vertex is the point (0, 0) , which is also the
absolute minimum.

The graph has two branches (one of them is

decreasing and the other one is increasing).

F. Cano Cuenca 4 Mathematics 4º ESO

Graphs of the remaining quadratic functions are similar to the graph of y  x2 .

Quadratic functions
Look at these graphs:

The conclusions we can draw from these graphs are:

 The graph of a quadratic function y = ax2 + bx + c is a parabola.

 Quadratic functions are continuous in .

 The axis of symmetry of a parabola is parallel to the y-axis.

 If two quadratic functions have the same “a”, the corresponding parabolas
are equal, but they are placed in different positions.

 If a  0 , the parabola opens upward.

If a  0 , the parabola opens downward.

a0 a0

 The greater is a , the slimmer the parabola will be.

F. Cano Cuenca 5 Mathematics 4º ESO

Graphing quadratic functions

A parabola y = ax2 + bx + c can be represented from these points:

1) Axes intercept points.

x-intercepts:

An x-intercept is a point on the graph where y  0 .

If y  0  ax2  bx  c  0 . When we solve the equation we can have:

-Two different real solutions: x1 , x2 .

Then there are two x-intercept points:
(x1 , 0) , (x2 , 0)

- One double real solution: x1  x2 .

Then there is only one x-intercept point:
(x1 , 0)

- No real solutions. Then the graph

does not intercept the x-axis.

y-intercept:

A y-intercept is a point on the graph where x  0 .

If x  0  y  c . Then the y-intercept point is (c, 0) .

2) Vertex: V(xv , yv )
b
xv  . The axis of symmetry of the parabola is the vertical line x  xv .
2a

3) Plot some points whose abscissa is close to the vertex of the parabola
(on both sides of it).

F. Cano Cuenca 6 Mathematics 4º ESO

 Example: Graph the quadratic function y  x2  2x  3 .

1) Axes intercept points.

x-intercepts:

x  1  (1, 0)
y  0  x2  2x  3  0   1
x2  3  ( 3, 0)

y-intercept:

If x  0  y  3  (0, 3)

2) Vertex: V(xv , yv )
b 2
xv    1  yv  ( 1)2  2( 1)  3  4  V( 1, 4)
2a 2  1

3) Table of values:

y  x2  2x  3

x y
1 0
-3 0
0 -3
-1 -4
2 5
-4 5

Exercise 7

Match each parabola with its equation.

c) y   x  3
2
a) y  x2 b) y  x2  3 d) y  x2  6x  6

F. Cano Cuenca 7 Mathematics 4º ESO

Exercise 8

Graph the following quadratic functions.

a) y  x2  5 b) y  x2  2x  1 c) y  x2  1
d) y  x2  5x e) y  x2  2x  5 f) y  2x2  10x  8

Exercise 9

Use the picture bellow to prove that the x-coordinate of the vertex of the
b
parabola y  ax2  bx  c is xv  .
2a

Exercise 10

The parabola y  ax2  bx  c passes through (0, 0). What will be the value of c?

Apart from that, the parabola passes through the points (1, 3) and (4, 6). Find
the values of a and b and graph that quadratic function.

Exercise 11

A company earns a weekly profit of “P” euros by selling “x” items, according to
the equation P(x)  0.5x2  40x  300 . How many items does the company have
to sell each week to maximize the profit?

Exercise 12

A ball is thrown into the air. The function h  20t  5t2 shows its height, “h”
metres, above the ground “t” seconds later it is thrown with an initial speed of
20 m/s.

a) Graph the function and find its domain.

b) Find the maximum height reached by the ball and the time at which it
reaches this height.
c) Find the interval of time when the ball is above 15 metres?

F. Cano Cuenca 8 Mathematics 4º ESO

Exercise 13

The perimeter of a rectangle is 70 m. What are the dimensions that will produce
the maximum area of such a rectangle? What is that maximum area?

Exercise 14

An Athletic field with a perimeter of 400 m consists of a rectangle with a

semicircle at each end, as shown below. Find the dimensions that yield the
greatest possible area for the rectangular region.

5.3.- INVERSELY PROPORTIONAL FUNCTIONS

If the variables “y” and “x” are inversely proportional, then the functional
dependence between them is represented by the equation:

k , where K is a constant.
y
x

Example: Suppose that the area of a rectangle is 100 cm2 and we don’t know
what are its sides. Let “x” and “y” be the two sides of this rectangle. Obviously,
xy  100 .
100 (the sides of the rectangles which have
y
x the same area are inversely proportional)

Exercise 15

At a fixed temperature, gas pressure P is

inversely proportional to container volume V.
Suppose that for a volume of 12 litres, the
pressure is 0.3 atmospheres.

a) Find the pressure P as a function of

volume V for this temperature.
b) What happens to the pressure as volume decreases?
c) What is the pressure for a volume of 15 litres?
d) What volume gives a pressure of at least 0.5 atmospheres?

F. Cano Cuenca 9 Mathematics 4º ESO

Exercise 16

For objects moving in circles at a constant speed, the angular velocity w is

inversely proportional to the radius r. (The angular velocity measures how fast
your angle is rotating as you move.) Suppose a radius of 10 miles gives a w of 15°
per hour.

a) Find w as a function of r.
b) What is w for a 5 miles radius? What is w for a 20 miles radius?
c) What radius makes w more than 5° per hour?
d) What radius makes w at most 50° per hour?

1
The function y =
x

1
Look at the graph of the function y  .
x

The domain is  0    , 0    0,    .

Its graph is a hyperbola.

It has two branches.

If we focus on the branch for x  0 :

As x increases, then y decreases to 0.

As x drops to 0, then y increases to  .

Using limit notation:

1 1
lim  0 lim 0
x  x x  x

1 1
(the limit of as x approaches to  is 0) (the limit of as x approaches to  is 0)
x x

1 1
lim   lim  
x0 x x0 x
1 1
(the limit of as x approaches to 0 (the limit of as x approaches to 0
x x
from the right is  ) from the left is  )

The x and y-axis are asymptotes of the function.

Asymptote is a line that a graph gets closer and closer to,

but never touches or crosses it.

F. Cano Cuenca 10 Mathematics 4º ESO

 k
The function y =
x
k
The functions y= are called inversely proportional functions.
x
1
Their graphs are similar to the graph of y  , that is:
x

- The domain of these functions is  0    , 0    0,    .

- They are hyperbolas whose asymptotes are the coordinate axes.
- If k  0 , the function decreases.
- If k  0 , the function increases.

Examples:

Exercise 17

Find the domain and the asymptotes of these functions, and graph them.

8 8 8 8 8
a) y  b) y  c) y  d) y  3 e) y  3
x x 2 x2 x x

Complete these sentences:

k k
 If a  0 , the graph of the function y  is the graph of y  moved
xa x
___ units to the ________.
k k
 If a  0 , the graph of the function y  is the graph of y  moved
xa x
___ units to the ________.

k k
 If b  0 , the graph of the function y   b is the graph of y  moved
x x
_______ ___ units.
k k
 If b  0 , the graph of the function y   b is the graph of y  moved
x x
_______ ___ units.

F. Cano Cuenca 11 Mathematics 4º ESO

5.4.- RADICAL FUNCTIONS
A radical function is any function that contains a variable inside a root. This
includes square roots, cubed roots, or any nth root.

Examples: y  x  2 , y  3 4x  5 , y  2 3x  1

The functions y = a x + b , y = a -x + b

Let’s start with the function y  x .

Its domain is  0,    .

It is a continuous function,
and it is increasing.

It is half a parabola.

If we square both sides of the function and isolate x, we end up with the
equation of the parabola in terms of y.

y  x  y2  x

The functions y = a x + b and y = a -x + b are also half parabolas.

 b,    and   , b , respectively.

Their domains are 

Examples:

Exercise 18

Graph the following functions.

a) y  2  x b) y  2 x  3 c) y  2  x d) y  x  2

F. Cano Cuenca 12 Mathematics 4º ESO

Exercise 19

Match each graph with its equation.

I) y  x  3 II) y  x  3 III) y  3   x IV) y  3x

a) b)

c) d)

5.5.- EXPONENTIAL FUNCTIONS

Do you remember compound interest problems?

Example: A £1000 deposit is made at a bank that pays

5% compounded annually. How much will you have in your
account at the end of 10 years? How much will you have
in your account at the end of “t” years?

At the end of 1 year you will have £ 1000  1  0.05 

At the end of 2 years you will have £ 1000  1  0.05 

2

At the end of 3 years you will have £ 1000  1  0.05 

3

.............
At the end of 10 years you will have £ 1000  1  0.05 
10

……………
At the end of “t” years you will have £ 1000  1  0.05   £ 1000  1.05t
t

If A represents the amount of money after t years,

A  1000  1.05t

This is an example of exponential function (the variable “t” is at the exponent of

a power).

F. Cano Cuenca 13 Mathematics 4º ESO

The function y = ax

The functions y = a x are called exponential functions. The base “a” can be any
positive real number, a  1 .
x
1
Look at the graphs of y  2 x
and y   
2

 The domain of the function y  ax is .

 The function y  ax is continuous in .
 The graph of y  ax passes through the points  0, 1  and 1, a  .
 If a  1 , the function is increasing.
 If a  1 , the function is decreasing.

Exercise 20

Match each graph with its equation.

I) y  3x II) y  1.5x III) y  0.4x IV) y  0.7 x

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Applications of exponential functions

The functions y = y0 akx , yo, k  , are also exponential functions. Their graphs
are similar to the graph of y = a x .

The best thing about exponential functions is that they are so useful in real
world situations. Exponential functions are used to model populations, carbon
date artifacts, help coroners determine time of death, compute investments, as
well as many other applications.

Exercise 21

The population of a city grows at a rate of 4% per year. The population in 2000
was 400,000. What would be the predicted current population? In what year
would we predict that the population to reach 1,000,000?

Exercise 22

Matt bought a new car at a cost of 25,000 €.

The car depreciates approximately 15% of its
value each year.

a) Write a function to model the decay value

of this car.
b) What will the car be worth in 10 years?

Exercise 23

Compound interest
nt
 r
The formula for interest that is compounded is A  P  1   .
 n
 A represents the amount of money after a certain amount of time.
 P represents the principal (the amount of money you start with).
 r represents the interest rate and is always represented as a decimal.
 n is the number of times interest is compounded in one year.
If interest is compounded annually then n  1 .
If interest is compounded quarterly then n  4 .
If interest is compounded monthly then n  12 .
 t represents the amount of time in years.

Suppose your parents invest 1000 € in a savings account for

college at the time you are born. The average interest rate is
4% and is compounded quarterly. How much money will be in
the college account when you are 18 years old?

F. Cano Cuenca 15 Mathematics 4º ESO

Exercise 24

Miss Young wants to have a total of $30,000 in three years so that she can buy
a house. She finds an account that pays 4.25% interest compounded monthly.
How should Miss Young put into account in order to have $30,000 at the end of
three years?

Exercise 25

Suppose that you are observing the behaviour of cell duplication in a lab. In one
experiment, you started with one cell and the cells doubled every minute. Write
a function to determine the number (population) of cells after one hour.

5.6.- LOGARITHMS
In a simplest form, a logarithm answers the question:

How many times do we multiply a number to get another number?

Example: How many times do we multiply 2 to get 8?

2  2  2  8 , so we need to multiply the number 2 three times to get 8.

In other words, what is the number “x” such that 2x  8 ?

2x  8  x  3

“3” is the logarithm of 8 with respect to base 2, and we write this as

log2 8  3

Notice we are dealing with three numbers:

 the base: the number we are multiplying (a “2” in the example above)
 how many times to use it in a multiplication (3 times, which is the logarithm)
 the number that we want to get (an “8”)

The logarithm of a number is the exponent to which another fixed value, the
base, must be raised to produce that number.

loga y  x  a x  y a  , a  0, a  1

(The logarithm of y to base a is x if and only if a x  y )

Examples: log10 10000  4 , because 104  10000

log5 125  3 , because 53  125

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Obviously: loga a  1 , loga a x  x

Sometimes you will see a logarithm without a base, like this: log100 .

This means that the base is really 10. It is called a “common logarithm”. On a
loga a  1 loga a  1
calculator is the “log” key.

Example: log1000  log10 1000  3

Another base that is often used is “e” (Euler’s number) which is approximately
2.71828. This is called a “natural logarithm”. On a calculator is the “ln” key.

Example: ln 7.389  loge 7.389 2

Exercise 26

Calculate the following logarithms.

1 1
a) log3 243 b) log2 c) log d) log 0.0001
8 10
1
e) log2 2 f) loga a 5 g) loga 3 a2 h) loga
a5
i) loga 1 j) log2 0.0625 k) log5 0.04 l) log 2 2

Exercise 27

Find the base of the following logarithms.

1
a) logb 10000  2 b) logb 125  3 c) logb 4  1 d) logb 3 
2

Properties of logarithms
The rules of logarithms are:

1) Product rule

The logarithm of a product is the sum of the logarithms of the factors.

loga  x  y   loga x  loga y

Proof: loga x  b  a b  x , loga y  c  ac  y

 
loga  x  y   loga ab  ac  loga ab  c  b  c  loga x  loga y

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2) Quotient rule

The logarithm of a quotient is the logarithm of the numerator minus the

logarithm of the denominator.

x
loga    loga x  loga y
y

3) Power rule
loga xn  n  loga x

4) Change of base rule

logb x
loga x 
logb a

Exercise 28

Prove the properties of logarithms 2, 3 and 4.

Exercise 29

Expand each logarithm.

x
b) log  a  b   
2
a) log c) log 3 x  y  z d) log x  y  z2
y6

Exercise 30

Condense each expression to a single logarithm.

a) ln x  4ln y b) 6log3 u  6log3 v 2log 7

c)
3
d) 4log a  20logb e) 2 log2x  log y   log3  log 5  f) log x  log2

Exercise 31

Use the change of base rule to calculate the following logarithms.

a) log2 0.5 b) log5 120 c) log3 0.24 d) log0.5 2

Exercise 32

Solve the following exponential equation: 1.04 x  2.5

Hint: Take logarithms on both sides of the equation and use the properties of logarithms.

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5.7.- LOGARITHMIC FUNCTION
The functions y = logax are called logarithmic functions. The base “a” can be any
positive real number, a  1 .

Look at the graphs of y  2x and y  log2 x .

x y  2x x y  log2 x
-3 1/8 1/8 -3
-2 1/4 1/4 -2
-1 1/2 1/2 -1
0 1 1 0
1 2 2 1
2 4 4 2
3 8 8 3

If the point (-3, 1/8) lies on the graph of y  2x , then the point (1/8, -3) lies on
the graph of y  log2 x ,

if the point (-2, 1/4) lies on the graph of y  2x , then the point (1/4, -2) lies on
the graph of y  log2 x , … and so on.

In general, if we have two functions, f(x) and g(x), where

if (a, b) lies on the graph of f(x), then the point (b, a) lies on the graph of
g(x), we say that f is the inverse function of g and vice versa.
The inverse function of f is denoted by f-1 (read f inverse, not to be
confused with exponentiation).

Therefore, y  log2 x is the inverse function of y  2x .

An inverse function is a function

that undoes another function.

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 The graphs of the functions y  2x and
y  log2 x are symmetric with respect to the
line y  x .

In general, graphs of inverse functions, f and

f-1 , are symmetric with respect to the line
y  x.

The domain of f is the range of f-1 , and vice

versa, the range of f is the domain of f-1 .

Look at the graphs of y  log2 x and y  log1 x .

2

 The domain of the function y  loga x is  0,    .

 The function y  loga x is continuous in its domain.
 The graph of y  loga x passes through the points 1, 0  and  a, 1  .
 If a  1 , the function is increasing.
 If a  1 , the function is decreasing.

Exercise 33

Graph the functions y  3x and y  log3 x in the same x and y-axes.

Exercise 34

Find the domain of the following functions.

 x 1
a) y  ln  x  6  
b) y  log x2  4x  3  c) y  log2  
 x  3

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Exercise 35

Albert currently pays a $400 premium for health

insurance. If the premium increases at an annual rate
of 2.5% per year, how many years will it take for the
premium to be $800?

Exercise 36

ABC Bank is offering to double your money! They say that if you invest with
them at 6% interest compounded quarterly they will double your money. If you
invest 1500 € in the account, how long will it take to double your money?

Exercise 37

A certain material decays at a rate of 1.9% per year. The sample is 260 grams.
How much will be left in 11 years? How long will it take to have only a 100 g
sample left?

Exercise 38
0.012t
The population of a city is P  250,342  e where t  0 represents the
population in the year 2010.

a) Find the population of the city in the year 2020.

b) Find when the population will be 320,000.

Exercise 39

In science, half-life is the amount of time it takes for

half of a substance or entity to undergo some specified
process. For example, the half-life of a radioactive
substance is the amount of time it takes for half of its
atoms to decay, and the half-life of a drug is the amount
of time it takes before half of the active elements are
either eliminated or broken down by the body.

a) Carbon-14 has a half-life of 5730 years. How much of a 144 g sample of

carbon-14 will remain after 17190 years?

b) A 208 g sample of sodium-24 decays to 13 g of sodium-24 within 60 hours.

What is the half-life of this radioactive isotope?

c) Chromium-48 has a short half-life of 21.6 hours. How long will it take 360
grams of chromium-48 to decay to 11.25?

F. Cano Cuenca 21 Mathematics 4º ESO