CHAPTER 1.

FUNCTIONS
1.1. Functions and Their Graphs
Functions are a tool describing the real world in mathematical terms. All we know that

the area of a circle depends on its radius;

the price of an object depends on the supply and the demand:

In each case, the value of one variable quantity, say y; depends on the value of another variable
quantity, which we might call x. We say that “y is a function of x”and write symbolically as

y = f (x) (“y equals f of x”).

In this notation,

the symbol f represents the f unction;

the letter x is the independent variable representing the input variable of f

and
y is the dependent variable or output value of f at x:

De…nition A function f from a set D to a set Y is a rule that assigns a unique (single)
element f (x) 2 Y to each element x 2 D:

Example 1. (a) Is the area of a square, a function of its lenght of sides?

(b) Is the area of a rectangle, a function of its diagonal?

The set D of all possible input values is called the domain of the function, usually
denoted by Df .
When we de…ne a function y = f (x) with a formula and the domain is not stated
explicitly or restricted by context, the domain is assumed to be the largest set of real
x-values for which the formula gives real y-values, which is called the natural
domain.
The set of all output values of f (x) as x varies throughout D is called the range of the
function which is denoted by Rf .
The domain and the range of a function can be any set of objects, but often in calculus
they are sets of real numbers interpreted as points of a coordinate line.
When the range of a function is a set of real numbers, the function is said to be real
valued.
The domains and ranges of most real-valued functions of a real variable we consider
are intervals or combinations of intervals. the intervals may be open (such as
]1; 2[ ; ]2; 1[ or ] 1; 2[), closed (such as [1; 2] ; ] 1; 2] or [2; 1[) or half open (such as
]1; 2] or [1; 2[).

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Example 2. Identify the domain and the range of the following functions:

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(a) f (x) = ;
x
(b) h (t) = t3 + 1;
p
(c) g (x) = 1 x;
p
(d) q (s) = 1 s2 :

Graphs of Functions
If f is a function with domain D; its graph consist of all points (x; f (x)) in the Cartesian plane
whenever x varies in D: In set notation, the graph is

Gf = f(x; f (x)) j x 2 Dg R2 :

Example 3. Graph the functions f (x) = x + 2 and g (x) = x2 over

(a) the interval [ 2; 2[,

(b) the interval [0; 3] ;

(c) the set of natural numbers less than 7:

Homework 1. Can you represent a function numerically? What is a scatterplot?

The Vertical Line Test For a Function

Not every curve in the coordinate plane can be the graph of a function. A function f can only
have one value f (x) for each x; so no vertical line can intersect the graph of a function more
than once. For example, a circle can not be the graph of a function.

Piecewise-De…ned Functions
Sometimes a function is described in pieces by using di¤erent formulas on di¤erent parts of its
domain. One example is the absolute value function

x; x 0
jxj =
x; x < 0

Absolute value of a function, greatest integer function (or integer ‡oor function), least in-
teger function (or integer ceiling function) and signum function (or the sign function) are
important examples of piecewise-de…ned functions.

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Absolute value of a function: Let f be a real function. The function

f (x) ; if f (x) 0
jf j (x) = jf (x)j =
f (x) ; if f (x) < 0

is called the absolute value function of f:

Example 4. Sketch the graph of y = jf (x)j where f (x) = x2 3x 4:

Graphing functions generated by the absolute value function:

Let f be a real function, then

(a) To plot the graph of the curve y = f (jxj) ; sketch the graph of f for all x 0 and also
plot the symmetric about the y-axis.

(b) To plot the graph of the curve y = jf (jxj)j ; sketch the graph of y = f (jxj). The graph
of y = jf (jxj)j is the same as the graph of y = f (jxj) whenever y = f (jxj) is positive
and the graph of y = jf (jxj)j is the symmetric of the graph of y = f (jxj) about x-axis
whenever y = f (jxj) is negative.

Example 5. Sketch the graph of y = jx2 j 2 jxj and y = jjx2 j 2 jxjj :n

Greatest integer (‡oor) function: The function whose value at any real number x is the
largest integer which is not greater than x; is called the ‡oor function. It is denoted

f loor (x) = bxc :

Example 6. Sketch the graph of the following functions:

(a) f (x) = bxc over the interval [ 3; 3] ;

(b) g (x) = x f (x) over the interval [ 2; 2] ;

(c) h (x) = bx2 c over the interval [ 2; 2] :

Homework 2. Make an investigation about the de…nition of the ceiling function, and solve
Example 4. by replacing the ‡oor function with the ceiling function.

Signum (sign) function: For a given real function f; its sign function is de…ned as
(
jf (x)j
f (x)
; if f (x) 6= 0
g (x) := :
0; if f (x) = 0

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the sign function of any given function f is denoted as sgnf; and simply
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< 1; if f (x) > 0
sgnf (x) = 0; if f (x) = 0 :
:
1 if f (x) < 0

Example 7. Sketch the graph of sgnf where f (x) = x2 2x 3:

Increasing and Decreasing Functions

De…nition Let f be a function de…ned on an interval I:

(a) f is called increasing on I if f (a) < f (b) for all a; b 2 I satisfying a < b:

(b) f is called decreasing on I if f (a) > f (b) for all a; b 2 I satisfying a < b:

Even and Odd Functions

A subset A of reals is called symmetric if for all x 2 A; x is also in A: Therefore, the interval
[ 1; 1] ; the set of integers and also R itself is a symmetric.

De…nition A function f de…ned on a symmetric set is

an even f unction of x if f (x) = f ( x) f or every x in Df ;

an odd f unction of x if f ( x) = f (x) f or every x in Df :

The graph of an even function is symmetric about the y-axis and the graph of an odd
function is symmetric about the origin.

Example 8. Give an example of an even (respectively; odd/neither even nor odd/both even
and odd) function.

Common Functions
Linear Functions
A function of the form f (x) = mx + b; for constants m and b; is called a linear function.
Lines through the origin; constant functions are linear functions

De…nition Two variables y and x are proportional (to one another) if one is always a
constant multiple of the other; that is, if

y = kx

for some none zero constant k:

If the variable y is proportional to the reciprocal 1=x; then sometimes it is said that y is
inversely proportional to x:

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Power Functions
A function f (x) = xa ; where a is constant, is called a power function. There are several
important cases to consider.

(a) If a = n is a positive integer sketch the grapshs of f for n = 1; 2; 3; 4; 5 and compare.

(b) If a = 1 or a = 2 sketch the graphs and compare.

(c) If a = 21 ; 13 ; 23 and 2
3
sketch the graphs and compare.

Polynomials
A function p is a polynomial if

p (x) = an xn + an 1 xn 1
+ + a1 x + a0

where n is a nonnegative integer and the numbers a0 ; a1 ; a2 ; : : : ; an are real constants (called
coe¢ cients of the polynomial). All polynomials have domain ( 1; 1) : If the leading
coe¢ cient an 6= 0 and n > 0; then n is called the degree of the polynomial. Lineer functions
with m 6= 0 are polynomials of degree 1, polynomials of degree 2; usually written as p (x) =
ax2 + bx + c; are called quadratic functions, and also cubic functions are polynomials of degree
3:

Rational Functions
A rational function is a quotient or ratio f (x) = p (x) =q (x) ; where p and q are polynomials.
The domain of a rational function is the set of reals for which q (x) 6= 0:

Algebraic Functions
Any function constructed from polynomials using algebraic operations lies within the class of
algebraic functions, such as

x1=3
y= and z = s (1 s)2=3 :
x 4

Transcendental Functions
These are functions that are not algebraic. They include the trigonometric, inverse trigonomet-
ric, exponential and logarithmic functions. These functions will be investigated particularly in
the sequal.

Referencess:

G.B. Thomas Jr., M.D. Weir, J. Heil and A. Behn, Thomas’ CALCULUS Early
Transcendentals Thirteenth Edition in SI Units. Pearson Educational Limited
2016