Functions

Outline
• Definitions & terminology
– function, domain, co-domain, image, preimage (antecedent), range, image of a set,
strictly increasing, strictly decreasing, monotonic
• Properties
– One-to-one (injective), onto (surjective), one-to-one correspondence
(bijective)
– Exercices (5)
• Inverse functions (examples)
• Operators
– Composition, Equality
• Important functions
– identity, absolute value, floor, ceiling, factorial

CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 2

 Introduction
• You have already encountered function
– f(x,y) = x+y
– f(x) = x
– f(x) = sin(x)
• Here we will study functions defined on discrete
domains and ranges.
• We will generalize functions to mappings
• We may not always be able to write function in a
‘neat way’ as above

CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 3

 Definition: Function
• Definition: A function f from a set A to a set B is an
assignment of exactly one element of B to each element of A.
• We write f(a)=b if b is the unique element of B assigned by
the function f to the element aA.
• If f is a function from A to B, we write
f: A  B
This can be read as ‘f maps A to B’
• Note the subtlety
– Each and every element of A has a single mapping
– Each element of B may be mapped to by several elements in A or not
at all

CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 4

 Terminology
• Let f: A  B and f(a)=b. Then we use the
following terminology:
– A is the domain of f, denoted dom(f)
– B is the co-domain of f
– b is the image of a
– a is the preimage (antecedent) of b
– The range of f is the set of all images of elements
of A, denoted rng(f)

CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 5

 Function: Visualization
Range
Preimage Image, f(a)=b
f
a b

A B
Domain Co-Domain
A function, f: A  B
CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 6
 More Definitions (1)
• Definition: Let f1 and f2 be two functions from
a set A to R. Then f1+f2 and f1f2 are also
function from A to R defined by:
– (f1+f2)(x) = f1(x) + f2(x)
– f1f2(x)= f1(x)f2(x)
• Example: Let f1(x)=x4+2x2+1 and f2(x)=2-x2
– (f1+f2)(x) = x4+2x2+1+2-x2 = x4+x2+3
– f1f2(x) = (x4+2x2+1)(2-x2)= -x6+3x2+2

CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 7

 More Definitions (2)
• Definition: Let f: A B and S A. The image
of the set S is the subset of B that consists of
all the images of the elements of S. We
denote the image of S by f(S), so that
f(S)={ f(s) |  sS}
• Note there that the image of S is a set and not
an element.

CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 8

 Image of a set: Example
• Let:
– A = {a1,a2,a3,a4,a5}
– B = {b1,b2,b3,b4,b5}
– f={(a1,b2), (a2,b3), (a3,b3), (a4,b1), (a5,b4)}
– S={a1,a3}
• Draw a diagram for f
• What is the:
– Domain, co-domain, range of f?
– Image of S, f(S)?

CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 9

 Definition: Injection
• Definition: A function f is said to be one-to-one or
injective (or an injection) if
 x and y in the domain of f, f(x)=f(y)  x=y
• Intuitively, an injection simply means that each
element in the range has at most one preimage
(antecedent)
• It may be useful to think of the contrapositive of this
definition
x  y  f(x)  f(y)

CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 10

 Definition: Surjection
• Definition: A function f: AB is called onto or
surjective (or an surjection) if
 bB,  aA with f(a)=b
• Intuitively, a surjection means that every
element in the codomain is mapped (i.e., it is
an image, has an antecedent).
• Thus, the range is the same as the codomain

CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 11

 Definition: Bijection
• Definition: A function f is a one-to-one
correspondence (or a bijection), if is both one-to-one
(injective) and onto (surjective)
• One-to-one correspondences are important because
they endow a function with an inverse.
• They also allow us to have a concept cardinality for
infinite sets
• Let’s look at a few examples to develop a feel for
these definitions…

CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 12

 Functions: Example 1

A B
a1 b1
a2 b2
a3 b3
a4 b4

• Is this a function? Why?

• No, because each of a1, a2 has two images
CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 13
 Functions: Example 2

A B
a1 b1
a2 b2
a3 b3
a4 b4

• Is this a function
– One-to-one (injective)? Why?
No, b1 has 2 preimages
– Onto (surjective)? Why?
No, b4 has no preimage
CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 14
 Functions: Example 3

A B
a1 b1
a2 b2
a3 b3
b4

• Is this a function
– One-to-one (injective)? Why?
Yes, no bi has 2 preimages
– Onto (surjective)? Why?
No, b4 has no preimage
CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 15
 Functions: Example 4

A B
a1 b1
a2 b2
a3 b3
a4

• Is this a function
– One-to-one (injective)? Why?
No, b3 has 2 preimages
– Onto (surjective)? Why?
Yes, every bi has a preimage
CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 16
 Functions: Example 5

A B
a1 b1
a2 b2
a3 b3
a4 b4

• Is this a function
– One-to-one (injective)?
Thus, it is a bijection or a
– Onto (surjective)?
one-to-one correspondence
CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 17
 Exercice 1
• Let f:ZZ be defined by
f(x)=2x-3
• What is the domain, codomain, range of f?
• Is f one-to-one (injective)?
• Is f onto (surjective)?
• Clearly, dom(f)=Z. To see what the range is, note that:
b rng(f)  b=2a-3, with aZ
 b=2(a-2)+1
 b is odd
CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 18
 Exercise 1 (cont’d)
• Thus, the range is the set of all odd integers
• Since the range and the codomain are
different (i.e., rng(f)  Z), we can conclude
that f is not onto (surjective)
• However, f is one-to-one injective. Using
simple algebra, we have:
f(x1) = f(x2)  2x1-3 = 2x2-3  x1= x2 QED

CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 19

 Exercise 2
• Let f be as before
f(x)=2x-3
but now we define f:N N
• What is the domain and range of f?
• Is f onto (surjective)?
• Is f one-to-one (injective)?
• By changing the domain and codomain of f, f is not
even a function anymore. Indeed, f(1)=21-3=-1N

CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 20

 Exercice 3
• Let f:ZZ be defined by
f(x) = x2 - 5x + 5
• Is this function
– One-to-one?
– Onto?

CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 21

 Exercice 3: Answer
• It is not one-to-one (injective)
f(x1)=f(x2)  x12-5x1+5=x22 - 5x2+5  x12 - 5x1 = x22 - 5x2
 x12 - x22 = 5x1 - 5x2  (x1 - x2)(x1 + x2) = 5(x1 - x2)
 (x1 + x2) = 5
Many x1,x2 Z satisfy this equality. There are thus an infinite number
of solutions. In particular, f(2)=f(3)=-1
• It is also not onto (surjective).
The function is a parabola with a global minimum at (5/2,-5/4).
Therefore, the function fails to map to any integer less than -1
• What would happen if we changed the domain/codomain?

CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 22

 Exercice 4
• Let f:ZZ be defined by
f(x) = 2x2 + 7x
• Is this function
– One-to-one (injective)?
– Onto (surjective)?
• Again, this is a parabola, it cannot be onto
(where is the global minimum?)

CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 23

 Exercice 4: Answer
• However, it is one-to-one! Indeed:
f(x1)=f(x2)  2x12+7x1=2x22 + 7x2  2x12 - 2x22 = 7x2 - 7x1
 2(x1 - x2)(x1 + x2) = 7(x2 - x1)  2(x1 + x2) = -7  (x1 + x2) = -7
 (x1 + x2) = -7/2
But -7/2  Z. Therefore it must be the case that x1 = x2.
It follows that f is a one-to-one function.
QED

CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 24

 Exercise 5
• Let f:ZZ be defined by
f(x) = 3x3 – x
• Is this function
– One-to-one (injective)?
– Onto (surjective)?

CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 25

 Exercice 5: f is one-to-one
• To check if f is one-to-one, again we suppose that
for x1,x2 Z we have f(x1)=f(x2)
f(x1)=f(x2)  3x13-x1=3x23-x2
 3x13 - 3x23 = x1 - x2
 3 (x1 - x2)(x12 +x1x2+x22)= (x1 - x2)
 (x12 +x1x2+x22)= 1/3
which is impossible because x1,x2 Z
thus, f is one-to-one
CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 26
 Exercice 5: f is not onto
• Consider the counter example f(a)=1
• If this were true, we would have
3a3 – a=1  a(3a2 – 1)=1 where a and (3a2 – 1) Z
• The only time we can have the product of two
integers equal to 1 is when they are both equal to 1
or -1
• Neither 1 nor -1 satisfy the above equality
• Thus, we have identified 1Z that does not have
an antecedent and f is not onto (surjective)

CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 27

 Inverse Functions (1)
• Definition: Let f: AB be a bijection. The
inverse function of f is the function that
assigns to an element bB the unique
element aA such that f(a)=b
• The inverse function is denote f-1.
• When f is a bijection, its inverse exists and
f(a)=b  f-1(b)=a

CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 28

 Inverse Functions (2)
• Note that by definition, a function can have an inverse
if and only if it is a bijection. Thus, we say that a
bijection is invertible
• Why must a function be bijective to have an inverse?
– Consider the case where f is not one-to-one (not injective).
This means that some element bB has more than one
antecedent in A, say a1 and a2. How can we define an
inverse? Does f-1(b)=a1 or a2?
– Consider the case where f is not onto (not surjective). This
means that there is some element bB that does not have
any preimage aA. What is then f-1(b)?
CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 29
 Inverse Functions: Representation

f(a)
a b
f -1(b)
A B
Domain Co-Domain
A function and its inverse
CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 30
 Inverse Functions: Example 1
• Let f:RR be defined by
f(x) = 2x – 3
• What is f-1?
1. We must verify that f is invertible, that is, is a bijection.
We prove that is one-to-one (injective) and onto
(surjective). It is.
2. To find the inverse, we use the substitution
• Let f-1(y)=x
• And y=2x-3, which we solve for x. Clearly, x= (y+3)/2
• So, f-1(y)= (y+3)/2

CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 31

 Inverse Functions: Example 2
• Let f(x)=x2. What is f-1?
• No domain/codomain has been specified.
• Say f:RR
– Is f a bijection? Does its inverse exist?
– Answer: No
• Say we specify that f: A B where
A={xR |x0} and B={yR | y0}
– Is f a bijection? Does its inverse exist?
– Answer: Yes, the function becomes a bijection and thus,
has an inverse
CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 32
 Inverse Functions: Example 2 (cont’)
• To find the inverse, we let
– f-1(y)=x
– y=x2, which we solve for x
• Solving for x, we get x=y, but which one is it?
• Since dom(f) is all nonpositive and rng(f) is nonnegative, thus
x must be nonpositive and
f-1(y)= -y
• From this, we see that the domains/codomains are just as
important to a function as the definition of the function itself

CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 33

 Inverse Functions: Example 3
• Let f(x)=2x
– What should the domain/codomain be for this function to
be a bijection?
– What is the inverse?
• The function should be f:RR+
• Let f-1(y)=x and y=2x, solving for x we get x=log2(y).
Thus, f-1(y)=log2(y)
• What happens when we include 0 in the codomain?
• What happens when restrict either sets to Z?

CSCE 235, Fall 2008 Functions 34