How to Graph Functions

A Presentation By Samantha Reagan Selman Home School Assignment September 28, 2011

What are Functions?

Functions are a special type of relation (i.e. a group of sets). Strictly speaking, a function is a relation that assigns to each input, or x-coordinate, a unique output, or y-coordinate. The set of all inputs is called the domain of the function while the set of all outputs is called the range of the function.

f(x) = 2x + 3

g(x) = x

f(x) = x - 1

The above are several examples of functions. Variables f and g are commonly used to denote functions; the letter x is used to denote the input. The first function takes the variable input and first doubles it and then adds three. The second function squares the input. The final function takes an input, squares it, then subtracts the number one.

It is common to find functions that have different formulas for different inputs. This is regularly called functions being defined piecewise. Look at the example below: f(x)={1, for x<0, {-1, for x>0 This means that for any input less than (<) 0, the output would be 1 and for any number more than (>) 0, the output would be -1. Zero is not a possible input in this case, so we say the function is not defined at zero.

There are several types of functions, most of which we will be graphing in this presentation. The first we will look at is the constant function. This function has a slope of zero and is given by the equation f(x)=b (b is the y-intercept). The graph of a constant function is always a horizontal line. Quadratic functions are given by the equation f(x)=ax2+bx+c with a having a nonzero value. On the previous slide we see the function g(x)=x 2; this function is an example of a quadratic function. The graph of a quadratic function is referred to as a parabola, a cup-like curve with a vertex.

The next type of function we will discuss is the rational function. These functions are given by the quotient of two polynomials as in the example below: f(x)= x2 9 x3 This problem can be simplified as follows: f(x) = (x 3)(x + 3) = x 3 x + 3 = x + 3 x3 x3 1 The domains of rational functions are restricted to inputs that will not result in a division by zero. The function is not defined at three because if three were an input, division by zero would take place. Therefore, we could express the equation as follows: f(x) = x + 3, x 3 Or the value of f at x is the sum of x and three, but x cannot equal three.

Absolute value functions are fairly easy to explain and graph; the output of the function is the absolute value of the input. This can be written as so: f(x)=|x| Absolute value functions result in a V shaped graph which we will look at in just a second. The final function we will discuss is the square root function. The domain for the square root function is the set of all nonnegative numbers, represented as [0,]. The function is as follows: _ f(x)= x

Graphing Functions
To graph a function, you must first find at least a few sets that satisfy the equation of the function. We will use the function below to demonstrate the process: f(x) = 2x + 3 What do we do with this? The conventional way is to solve the equation for a number of inputs, note the solutions in a chart, then graph the information:
input output -2 -1 -1 1 0 3 1 5 2 7

This, at left, is what the graph of the function would look like. As you can see, the graph never intersects a vertical line at the same place twice. Otherwise it could not be called a function. In other words, if any one input (x-coordinate) has more than one output (y-coordinate) the graph is not that of a function. Let's look at another graph on the next slide:

This graph does not pass the vertical line test. Vertical lines intersect the graph many times; the x-coordinates in this graph are not restricted to one ycoordinate. Therefore, the graph on the right does not qualify as the graph of a linear function.

We will now graph a quadratic function given by y = x 2 - 2x - 3. Let's first graph the possible inputs and resulting outputs:
x f(x) -2 5 -1 0 0 -3 1 -4 2 -3 3 0 4 5

(The location of the vertex is shown in green.)

After solving for a satisfactory number of sets, we can graph the function. The image on the right shows what the graph should look like:

Next we will graph the rational function f(x)= x2 9 or f(x) = x + 3 x 3. x -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 4

f(x) 0 1 2 3 4 5 7 We looked at this problem earlier and found that the input 3, because it would result in a division by zero in the original equation, was not defined at function f. Therefore, working around the number 3, we selected some suitable inputs and found their outputs. I have graphed the function here on the right side of this slide (the open circle indicates that function f is not defined at point (3,6)):

The absolute value function we presented earlier is very easy to graph. The ordered pairs are shown below: If f(x)=|x|
x f(x)
-3 3 -2 2 -1 1 0 0 1 1 2 2 3 3

We will now graph the points; the graph is shown on the left.

Finally we will graph the square root function. Square roots are sometimes difficult to estimate, so I suggest using a calculator if at all possible. The coordinates are shown below and the graph is shown on the right: If f(x)= x : x f(x)
0 0 1 -1 2 -1.4 3 -1.7 4 -2 5 -2.2