Chapter 2

Functions

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 2.1 Functions

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duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Objectives

• Functions All Around Us

• Definition of Function
• Evaluating a Function
• The Domain of a Function
• Four Ways to Represent a Function

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 Functions All Around Us

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duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Functions All Around Us (1 of 4)
In nearly every physical phenomenon we observe that one quantity depends on
another. For example, your height depends on your age, the temperature
depends on the date, the cost of mailing a package depends on its weight (see
Figure 1).

Height is a function of age. Temperature is a function of date. Postage is a function of weight.

Figure 1

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Functions All Around Us (2 of 4)
We use the term function to describe this dependence of one quantity on
another. That is, we say the following:
• Height is a function of age.
• Temperature is a function of date.
• Cost of mailing a package is a function of weight.

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Functions All Around Us (3 of 4)
Here are some more examples:
• The area of a circle is a function of its radius.
• The number of bacteria in a culture is a function of time.
• The weight of an astronaut is a function of her elevation.
• The price of a commodity is a function of the demand for that commodity.

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Functions All Around Us (4 of 4)
The rule that describes how the area A of a circle depends on its radius r is
given by the formula A  r 2 .

Even when a precise rule or formula describing a function is not available, we

can still describe the function by a graph. For example, when you turn on a hot
water faucet, the temperature of the water depends on how long the water has
been running. So we can say:
• The temperature of water from the faucet is a function of time.

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duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Definition of Function

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Definition of Function (1 of 6)
A function is a rule. To talk about a function, we need to give it a name. We will
use letters such as f, g, h, . . . to represent functions.
For example, we can use the letter f to represent a rule as follows:
“ f ” is the rule “square the number”
DEFINITION OF A FUNCTION
A function f is a rule that assigns to each element x in a set A exactly one
element, called f(x), in a set B.

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Definition of Function (2 of 6)
We usually consider functions for which the sets A and B are sets of real
numbers.
The symbol f (x) is read “f of x” or “f at x” and is called the value of f at x, or the
image of x under f. The set A is called the domain of the function. The range
of f is the set of all possible values of f (x) as x varies throughout the domain,
that is,

range of f  f  x  | x  A

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Definition of Function (3 of 6)
The symbol that represents an arbitrary number in the domain of a function f is
called an independent variable.
The symbol that represents a number in the range of f is called a dependent
variable. So if we write y = f (x), then x is the independent variable and y is the
dependent variable.

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duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Definition of Function (4 of 6)
It is helpful to think of a function as a machine (see Figure 3).

Machine diagram of f
Figure 3

If x is in the domain of the function f, then when x enters the machine, it is

accepted as an input and the machine produces an output f (x) according to
the rule of the function.

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Definition of Function (5 of 6)
Thus we can think of the domain as the set of all possible inputs and the range
as the set of all possible outputs.
Another way to picture a function f is by an arrow diagram as in Figure 4(a).

Arrow diagram
Figure 4
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Definition of Function (6 of 6)
Each arrow associates an input from A to the corresponding output in B.
Since a function associates exactly one output to each input, the diagram in
Figure 4(a) represents a function but the diagram in Figure 4(b) does not
represent a function.

Arrow diagram
Figure 4
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duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Example 1 – Analyzing a Function
A function f is defined by the formula

f ( x ) x 2  4

(a) Express in words how f acts on the input x to produce the output f (x).
(b) Evaluate f (3), f (−2), and f  5 .
(c) Find the domain and range of f.
(d) Draw a machine diagram for f.

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Example 1 – Solution (1 of 3)
(a) The formula tells us that f first squares the input x and then adds 4 to the
result. So f is the function

“square, then add 4”

(b) The values of f are found by substituting for x in the formula f x   x 2  4.

f 3  32  4 13 Replace x by 3

f  2   2   4 8
2
Replace x by −2

 5   5 
2
f  4 9 Replace x by 5

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Example 1 – Solution (2 of 3)
(c) The domain of f consists of all possible inputs for f. Since we can evaluate
the formula f x   x 2  4 for every real number x, the domain of f is the set 
of all real numbers.

The range of f consists of all possible outputs of f. Because x 2 0

for all real numbers x, we have x 2  4 4, so for every output of f we have
f  x  4. Thus, the range of f is  y | y 4 [ 4, ).

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Example 1 – Solution (3 of 3)
(d) A machine diagram for f is shown in Figure 5.

Machine diagram
Figure 5

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duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Evaluating a Function

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duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Evaluating a Function (1 of 2)
In the definition of a function the independent variable x plays the role of a
placeholder. For example, the function f  x  3 x 2  x  5 can be thought of as

To evaluate f at a number, we substitute the number for the placeholder.

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duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Example 2 – Evaluating a Function
Let f ( x ) 3 x 2  x  5. Evaluate each function value.
(a) f (−2)
(b) f (0)
(c) f (4)
(d) f  21 
Solution:
To evaluate f at a number, we substitute the number for x in the definition of f.
(a) f (–2)  3 (–2)2  (–2) – 5
5

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 Example 2 – Solution
(b) f (0)  3 02  0 – 5
5
(c) f (4)  3 4 2  4 – 5
 47
2
(d) f  1   3  1    1  – 5
 2  2  2
15

4

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Evaluating a Function (2 of 2)
From Examples 2 we see that the values of a function can change from one
input to another.
The net change in the value of a function f as the input changes from a to b
(where a ≤ b) is given by

f b   f a 

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The Domain of a Function

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duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
The Domain of a Function (1 of 2)

We know that the domain of a function is the set of all inputs for the function.
The domain of a function may be stated explicitly.
For example, if we write

f x   x 2 0  x 5

then the domain is the set of all real numbers x for which 0  x 5.

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duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
The Domain of a Function (2 of 2)

If the function is given by an algebraic expression and the domain is not stated
explicitly, then by convention the domain of the function is the domain of the
algebraic expression—that is, the set of all real numbers for which the
expression is defined as a real number.

For example, consider the functions

1
f x   g x   x
x 4

The function f is not defined at x = 4, so its domain is  x | x  4 .

The function g is not defined for negative x, so its domain is  x | x 0 .

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duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Example 7 – Finding Domains of Functions
Find the domain of each function.
1
(a) f  x  
x2  x
(b) g x   9  x 2
t
(c) h t  
t 1
Solution:
(a) A rational expression is not defined when the denominator is 0. Since
1 1
f x   2 
x  x x  x  1
we see that f (x) is not defined when x = 0 or x = 1.
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Example 7 – Solution (1 of 2)
Thus, the domain of f is
 x | x 0, x 1
The domain may also be written in interval notation as
, 0   0, 1  1, 
(b) We can’t take the square root of a negative number, so we must have 9 – x 2 0.

We can solve this inequality to find that  3  x 3.

Thus the domain of g is

 x |  3  x 3   3,3

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Example 7 – Solution (2 of 2)
(c) We can’t take the square root of a negative number, and we can’t divide by
0, so we must have t + 1 > 0, that is, t > −1.

So the domain of h is

 t | t   1  1, 

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Four Ways to Represent a Function

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duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Four Ways to Represent a Function (1 of 6)

To help us understand what a function is, we have used machine and arrow
diagrams. We can describe a specific function in the following four ways:
• verbally (by a description in words)
• algebraically (by an explicit formula)
• visually (by a graph)
• numerically (by a table of values)

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duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Four Ways to Represent a Function (2 of 6)

A single function may be represented in all four ways, and it is often useful to
go from one representation to another to gain insight into the function.
However, certain functions are described more naturally by one method than by
the others.

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duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Four Ways to Represent a Function (3 of 6)

An example of a verbal description is the following rule for converting between

temperature scales:

“To find the Fahrenheit equivalent of a Celsius 9

temperature, multiply the Celsius temperature by ,
5
then add 32.”

In Example 8 we see how to describe this verbal rule or function algebraically,

graphically, and numerically.

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duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Four Ways to Represent a Function (4 of 6)

A useful representation of the area of a circle as a function of its radius is the

algebraic formula

A r   r 2

The graph produced by a seismograph is a visual representation of the vertical

acceleration function a (t) of the ground during an earthquake.
As a final example, consider the function C (w), which is described verbally as
“the cost of mailing a large first-class letter with weight w.”

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Four Ways to Represent a Function (5 of 6)

The most convenient way of describing this function is numerically—that is,

using a table of values.

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duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Four Ways to Represent a Function (6 of 6)

We summarize the four representations of a function in the following box.

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Example 8 – Representing a Function Verbally,
Algebraically, Numerically, and Graphically
Let F (C) be the Fahrenheit temperature corresponding to the Celsius
temperature C. (Thus F is the function that converts Celsius inputs to
Fahrenheit outputs.) The previous box of “Four ways to represent a function”,
gives a verbal description of this function. Find ways to represent this function
(a) Algebraically (using a formula)
(b) Numerically (using a table of values)
(c) Visually (using a graph)

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Example 8 – Solution (1 of 2)
9
(a) The verbal description tells us that we should first multiply the input C by
5
and then add 32 to the result. So we get
9
F (C )  C  32
5
(b) We use the algebraic formula for F that we found in part (a) to construct a
table of values:
C (Celsius) F (Fahrenheit)
−10 14
0 32
10 50
20 68
30 86
40 104

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Example 8 – Solution (2 of 2)
(c) We use the points tabulated in part (b) to help us draw the graph of this
function in Figure 6.

Celsius and Fahrenheit

Figure 6
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duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.