Lesson 1: Functions

Objectives:
At the end of this lesson, students should be able to:
1. Differentiate the function from a relation.
2. Sketch graph and evaluate function.
3. Identify the domain and range and us of function notation.
4. Understand the basic types of functions
5. Apply functions in real-life situations.

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Lesson 1: Functions
• Relations and Functions
• Definition and Notation of Functions
• Types of Functions
• Domain and Range
• Operation of Functions
• Evaluation of Functions
• Application of Functions

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Relations and Functions
Relation is referred to as any set of ordered pair. Conventionally , it is
represented by the ordered pair .
In an ordered pair, is called the first element or x-coordinate while is the
second element or y-coordinate of the ordered pair.

Function is a set of ordered pairs in which no two ordered pairs have the
same first coordinate with different second coordinates. It leads to say that
every function is a relation, but not every relation is a function. Consequently,
it may have ordered pairs with the same second coordinate.

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Relations and Functions
Example:
Determine whether the following relations are functions.

b.

c. Domain = Set of all items for sale in a convenience store; Range=Price

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Relations and Functions
Example:
Determine whether the following relations are functions.
SOLUTION:
a. No x-value is repeated. Therefore, each x-value corresponds to
exactly one y-value. This relation is a function.
b. The value corresponds to both and . This relation is not a function.
c. Each item in the convenience store corresponds to exactly one
price. This relation is a function.

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Definition and Notation of Functions
Functions can be named by using a letter or combination of letters, such
as, .

If is an element of the domain of , then , which is read as “” or “the value

of at ”, is the element in the range of that corresponds to the domain of .

The notation “” means the name of the function while the notation “”
means the value of the function at .

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Types of Functions
A. CONSTANT FUNCTION
A function of zero-degree that is in the form of .

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Types of Functions
B. LINEAR FUNCTION
A function whose graph is a straight line and has the form of

where and are constants. is the slope and is the y-intercept. A

typical use for linear function is converting from one quantity or set of
units to another. Graphs of linear functions are straight lines. If is
positive then the line rises to the right, and if is negative then the line
falls to the right.

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Types of Functions
B. LINEAR FUNCTION

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Types of Functions
C. QUADRATIC FUNCTION
A function in the form

where a, b and c are constants. Their graph are called parabolas. If is a

positive number then the parabola opens upward and if is a negative
number then the parabola opens downward.

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Types of Functions
C. QUADRATIC FUNCTION

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Types of Functions
D. POWER FUNCTION

The power is a positive integer

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Types of Functions
D. POWER FUNCTION

The power is a negative integer

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Types of Functions
D. POWER FUNCTION

The power is a fraction

between 0 and 1

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Types of Functions
E. POLYNOMIAL FUNCTION
A function in the form of

Where are constants. Only whole number powers of are allowed. The
highest power of that occurs is called the degree of the polynomial.
The degree gives the maximum number of “ups and downs” that the
polynomial can have and the maximum number of crossings of the x-
axis that it can have. Polynomials are useful for generating smooth
curves in computer graphics applications and for approximating other
types of functions.

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Types of Functions
E. POLYNOMIAL FUNCTION

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Types of Functions
F. RATIONAL FUNCTION
This function is the ratio of two polynomials. One field of study
where this is important is in stability analysis of mechanical and
electrical systems (which uses Laplace transforms).
When polynomial in the denominator is zero then the rational
function becomes infinite as indicated by a vertical dashed line (called
an asymptote) in its graph.
When becomes vey large, the curve may level off.

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Types of Functions
F. RATIONAL FUNCTION

In the graph on the right, the curve

to the right levels off at .

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Types of Functions
F. RATIONAL FUNCTION

The graph on the right has a

division by zero at . It does not
level off but it does approach the
straight line when is large, as
indicated by the dashed line
(another asymptote).

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Types of Functions
G. EXPONENTIAL FUNCTION
A function in the form

Where is an exponent (not in the base as was the case for power
function) and and are constants. (Note that only is raised to the
power ; not ).

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Types of Functions
G. EXPONENTIAL FUNCTION

If the base is greater than 1 then

the result is exponential growth.
Many physical quantities grow
exponentially (i.e., animal
population, cash in an interest-
based account, and bacterial
growth).

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Types of Functions
G. EXPONENTIAL FUNCTION

If the base is smaller than 1 then

the result is exponential decay.
Many quantities decay
exponentially (i.e., the sunlight
reaching a given depth of the
ocean and the speed of an object
slowing down due to friction).

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Types of Functions
H. LOGARITHMIC FUNCTION
There are many equivalent ways to define logarithmic functions. We
will define them to be of the form:

Where is in the natural logarithm and and are constants. They are only
defined for positive . For small they are negative and for large they are
positive but stays small.
Logarithmic functions accurately describe the response of the human
ear to sounds of varying loudness and the response of the human eye to
light of varying brightness.
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Types of Functions
H. LOGARITHMIC FUNCTION

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Types of Functions
I. PIECEWISE-DEFINED FUNCTION
Most of the functions that we have discussed so far are functions
defined by polynomials. Sometimes the need arises to define functions
in terms of pieces. For example, most taxi companies charge a flag
down rate and additional rate per kilometer ride. For instance, taxi in
the Philippines charges 40 pesos for the flag down rate and additional
13.50 pesos per kilometer until you arrive at your destination, we
would define this function in pieces. If we let be the number of
kilometers of your ride, then the fare is defined as

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Types of Functions
I. PIECEWISE-DEFINED FUNCTION

If we graph the function, we will

see that there is 1 kilometer that is
constant and after that the
function continually increases.

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Types of Functions
J. ABSOLUTE VALUE FUNCTION
Another piecewise-defined function is the absolute function. The
absolute value function can be thought of as two pieces:
the line (when is negative) and the line (when is positive).

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Types of Functions
J. ABSOLUTE VALUE FUNCTION

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Types of Functions
K. GREATEST INTEGER FUNCTION
The floor function (also known as the greatest integer function) R → Z
of a real number denotes the greatest integer less than or equal to .

In general, is the unique integer satisfying .

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Types of Functions
K. GREATEST INTEGER FUNCTION

The graph of the floor function

(greatest integer function) is
discontinuous at every integer.

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Domain and Range
The domain of a function is the complete set of possible values of the
independent variable (, usually). While, range of a function is the
complete set of all possible resulting values of the dependent variable
(, usually), after we have substituted the domain.

For domain, we exclude any values that lead to the function being
undefined (dividing by zero) or imaginary outputs (square root of a
negative real number).

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Domain and Range
Example:
Determine the domain and range of the given function:

Solution:
There are no denominators (so no division-by-zero problems) and no
radicals (so no square-root-of-a-negative-number problem). There are no
problems with the polynomial. There are no values that we can not
substitute to . When we have a polynomial, the answer for the domain is
always: “the domain is all x”.

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Domain and Range
The range will vary from
polynomial to polynomial, and it
probably won’t even ask for, but
when it does, we look at the graph
of the given function:

The graph goes only as high as

, but it will go as low as we like.
Therefore, “the range is all ”.

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Operations of Functions
If and are functions with domains and , then we define the following:

a. The sum Domain:

b. The Difference Domain:
c. The Product Domain:
d. The Quotient Domain: ,

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Operations of Functions
Example:
1. Let and . Solve the following operations and find the domain of the
resulting functions:

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Operations of Functions
Example:

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Operations of Functions
Example:

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Operations of Functions
Example:

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Operations of Functions
Example:

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