GCSE/IGCSE-FM Functions

Dr J Frost ([email protected])
@DrFrostMaths
www.drfrostmaths.com

Last modified: 2nd October 2019

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OVERVIEW

#1: Understanding of functions #2: Inverse Functions

GCSE IGCSEFM GCSE

#3: Composite Functions

GCSE
OVERVIEW

#4: Piecewise functions #5: Domain/Range of common functions

(particularly quadratic and trigonometric)
IGCSEFM
IGCSEFM

#6: Domain/Range of other #7: Constructing a function based

functions IGCSEFM on a given domain/range. IGCSEFM
What are Functions?
A function is something which provides a rule on how to map inputs to
outputs.
From primary school you might have seen this as a ‘number machine’.

Input Output

𝑥 f 2𝑥

Input Output
Name of the function
(usually or )
?
𝑓 ( 𝑥)= 2 𝑥
Check Your Understanding

𝑓 (𝑥)=𝑥 2+ 2
Q1 What does this function do?
It squares the input?then adds 2 to it.

Q2 What is ?
?
Q3 What is ?
? This question is asking
the opposite, i.e. “what
Q4 If , what is ? input would give an
output of 38?”
So ?
Algebraic Inputs
If you change the input of the function (), just replace each
occurrence of in the output.

If what is: If what is:

𝑓 (𝑥 −1)=(𝒙 −𝟏)+𝟏=𝒙 𝟐
?

𝑓 (𝑥 −1)=(𝒙 −𝟏) −𝟏
?
?
? ?
?

If what is: ?

𝑓 ( 𝑥 −1)=𝟐 ( 𝒙−𝟏)
?
?
?
Test Your Understanding
A If , determine:
(a) ?
(b) ?
(c) ?

B If , solve
2
2 𝑥 +1=51
?
 Exercise 1 (exercises on provided sheet)

1 If , find: 4 [AQA Worksheet] .

a) ? If , determine the value of .

b) ? ?
c) ?
If , find If , determine the following, simplifying
2 5 where possible.
d)
? a)
e) the possible values of such that
b) ?
f) The possible values of such that
? ?
[AQA IGCSEFM June 2012 Paper 2] for all
[AQA Worksheet] . Work?out when
6 values of . Solve

?
?
 Exercise 1 (exercises on provided sheet)

9 [Edexcel Specimen Papers Set 1, Paper 2H

7 [AQA Worksheet] Q18]
Show that
Express in the form
? ?
If determine: N [Senior Kangaroo 2011 Q20] The
(a) polynomial is such that
8 (b) and
(c) ? . What is the value of ?
(d) ?
? By letting :
(e) Solve
? Thus

?
?
Inverse Functions
A function takes and input and produces an output.
The inverse of a function does the opposite: it describes how we get from the
output back to the input.

Input Output

2
×3 6
÷?3 Bro-notation: The -1 notation
means that we apply the
function “-1 times”, i.e. once
backwards! You’ve actually
seen this before, remember
So if , then the inverse function is : from trigonometry to mean
“inverse sin”?

? It’s possible to have , we’ll see

this when we cover
composite functions.
Quickfire Questions
In your head, find the inverse functions, by thinking what the original
functions does, and what the reverse process would therefore be.

𝑓 ( 𝑥 )= 𝑥 +5 𝑓 −1 ( 𝑥 )= 𝒙 −𝟓
?
𝒙 +𝟏
𝑓 ( 𝑥 )=3 𝑥 −1 𝑓
−1
( 𝑥 )= ?
𝟑
𝑓 ( 𝑥 )= √ 𝑥 +3 𝑓
−1
?
( 𝑥 )= ( 𝒙 −𝟑 ) 𝟐

1 −1 𝟏
𝑓 ( 𝑥 )= 𝑓 ( 𝑥 )= ?
𝑥 𝒙
Bro Fact: If a function is the same as its inverse, it is known
as self-inverse. is also a self-inverse function.
Full Method

If , find .

𝑥 STEP 1: Write the output as

𝑦 =? +1
5 This is purely for convenience.

𝑥 STEP 2: Get the input in terms of

𝑦 −1= the output (make the subject).
? 5 This is because the inverse function is the
reverse process, i.e. finding the input in
terms of the output .

𝑓 −1 ( 𝑥 )?=5 𝑥 −5 STEP 3: Swap back for and

back for .
This is because the input to a function is
generally written as rather than .
But technically would be correct!
Harder One

If , find .

𝑥+1
𝑦=
?

𝑥 −2
Test Your Understanding

If , find . If , find .

𝟐 𝒙+𝟏
𝒚= ? ?

𝟑
Exercise 2 (exercises on provided sheet)

1 Find for the following functions. 3 Find for the following functions.

a ? a ?
b ? b ?
c ?
d ? c ?
e ?
[Edexcel IGCSE Jan2016(R)-3H Q16c] d ?
f
? Find the value of for which is a self
inverse function.
2 Find e ?
If self-inverse:
N For and terms to match, .

?
?
Composite Functions

𝑓 ( 𝑥 )=3𝑥+1
Have a guess! (Click your answer)

𝑓𝑔 ( 2 )=¿ 49? 13?

means , i.e. “ of of 2”.

We therefore apply the functions to the
input in sequence from right to left.
Examples

𝑓 ( 𝑥 )=3𝑥+1
Bro Tip: I highly encourage you to write this first. It will
Determine: help you when you come to the algebraic ones.

?
?
? Bro Note: This can also be written
as , but you won’t encounter this
notation in GCSE/IGCSE FM.

?
More Algebraic Examples

Determine:
𝑓 ( 𝑥 )= 2𝑥+1
?

?
?

?
Test Your Understanding
1 If and , determine . 2

3 A function is such that

The function is such that

where is a constant.

Given that , determine the value

of .

?
𝒇𝒈 ( −𝟑 ) =𝒇? ( 𝒈 ( −𝟑 ) )
 Exercise 3 (exercises on provided sheet)

1 If and , determine: 6 Let and .

? ? If , determine the possible values of .
? ?
?
2 If and determine:
Let and .
?
If , determine the possible values of .

? ?
?
If and , find , simplifying your expression.
7
[Based on MAT question]
and
3 ?
Let means that you apply the function times.
a) Find in terms of and .
If and and , find the possible values of . N
? b) Note that . Find all other ways of combining and
that result in the function .
If and and , find .
4

?
5
?
?
 This be ye end of GCSE
functions content.
Beyond this point there
be IGCSE Further Maths.
Yarr.
#4 :: Piecewise Functions
Sometimes functions are defined in ‘pieces’, with a different function for
different ranges of values.

Sketch >
Sketch >
Sketch >

(2, 9)

(0, 5)

(-1, 0) (5, 0)
Test Your Understanding

{
2
𝑥 0 ≤ 𝑥 <1 Sketch
𝑓 ( 𝑥 )= 1 1≤ 𝑥< 2 Sketch

3−𝑥 2≤ 𝑥< 3 Sketch

This example
was used on the
specification
itself!

(1, 1) (2, 1)

(3, 0)
 Exercise 4 (Exercises on provided sheet)

1 [Jan 2013 Paper 2] A function is defined as: 2 [June 2013 Paper 2] A function is
defined as:
(a) Draw the graph of for
Draw the graph of for
(b) Use your graph to write down how many
solutions there are to 3 sols
(c) Solve
b?
c?

?
a?
 Exercise 4 (Exercises on provided sheet)

3 [Set 1 Paper 1] A function is defined as: 4 [Specimen 1 Q4] A function is defined

as:

Draw the graph of for .

Calculate the area enclosed by the
graph of and the axis.

? Sketch ?

Area =
?
Exercise 4 (Exercises on provided sheet)

5 [AQA Worksheet Q9] 6 [AQA Worksheet Q10]

Draw the graph of from .

1 2 3 4 5 3 7
-1 -1
?
-2 Show that
Area of
-3
Area of
-4 ?
 Domain and Range
Inputs

-1 1 Outputs

0 0

2
1.7
2 𝑓 ( 𝑥 )= 𝑥 2.89
4

3.1 9.61
... ...

! The domain of a function is the set of ! The range of a function is the set of
possible inputs. possible outputs.
Example
𝑦
2
𝑓 ( 𝑥 )= 𝑥 Sketch:
Bro Note: By ‘suitable’, I mean the largest possible set of values that could be input into the function.
𝑥

Suitable for all

?
Domain: We can use any real number as the input!
In ‘proper’ maths we’d use to mean “ can be any element in the set
of real numbers”, but the syllabus is looking for “for all ”.

Range: 𝑓 (𝑥
? )≥0
Look at the values on the graph.
The output has to be positive, since it’s been squared.

B Bro Tip: Note that the domain is in terms of and the range in terms of .
Test Your Understanding
𝑦
𝑓 ( 𝑥 )= √ 𝑥 Sketch: ?
𝑥

Suitable 𝑥 ?≥ 0
Domain: Presuming the output has to be a real number, we
can’t input negative numbers into our function.

Range: 𝑓 (𝑥
? )≥0
The output, again, can only be positive.
 Mini-Exercise
In pairs, work out a suitable domain and the range of each function.
A sketch may help with each one.
3
1 2 Function
Function Function
Domain For all Domain For all except 0
Domain For all
Range For all? Range ? Range For all except 0
?
4 5 6
Function Function Function
Domain For all Domain For all Domain For all
Range ? Range ? Range For all ?

7
Function 8
Function
Domain For all except 2 Domain
Range For all except 1 Range ?
?
 Range of Quadratics
A common exam question is to determine the range of a quadratic.

The sketch shows the function where .

𝑦 Determine the range of .

We need the minimum point, since

from the graph we can see that
(i.e. ) can be anything greater than
3 this.
𝑥
?
The minimum point is thus the
range is:

(note the rather than )

An alternative way of thinking about it, once you’ve completed the square, is that anything
squared is at least 0. So if is at least 0, then clearly is at least 3.
Test Your Understanding
𝑦
The sketch shows the function where .
Determine the range of .

𝑥
Therefore ?
( 1 ,− 9 )

𝑦
The sketch shows the function where .
( 2,25 ) Determine the range of .

𝑥 Therefore
?
Range for Restricted Domains
Some questions are a bit jammy by restricting the domain. Look out for this, because
it affects the domain!

Determine the range of .

𝑦
Notice how the domain is .

When
Sketching the graph, we see that
? when , the function is increasing.
Therefore when

−3 −1 1 𝑥
Test Your Understanding

Determine the range of . Determine the range of .

𝑦
When
When

Range:

? 𝑥 ?
−2

When
As decreases from -2, is
increasing. Therefore:
Range of Trigonometric Functions

90° 180° 270° 360°

Suppose we restricted the domain in different ways.

Determine the range in each case (or vice versa). Ignore angles below 0 or above 360.

Domain Range
For all (i.e. unrestricted) ?
?
?
Range of Piecewise Functions
It’s a simple case of just sketching the full function.

The sketch shows the graph of with the domain

Determine the range of .

Range:
Graph ? Range ?
Test Your Understanding
The function is defined for all :

Determine the range of .

Range:
Graph ? Range ?
Exercise 5 (exercises on provided sheet)

1 Work out the range for each of these 4 [Set 1 Paper 2] (a) The function is defined
functions. as:
(a) for all
? The range of is
(b) Work out the value of .
? ?
(c)
(b) The function is defined as
? for all .
2 (a) (i) Express in the form
Give a reason why is not a suitable ?
domain for . (ii) Hence write down the range of .
It would include 3, for which is ?
undefined. ?
(b) Give a possible domain for 5 [June 2012 Paper 1] for all values of .
(a) What is the value of ?
?
(b) What is the range?of ?
3 The range of is
Work out and . ?
?
Exercise 5 (exercises on provided sheet)

6 [Jan 2013 Paper 2] 8

(a) What is the range of ?

(b) You are given that . ?

Work out the value of .

? Here is a sketch of
By completing the square or otherwise, for all , where is a constant. The
range of is . Work out the value
7 determine the range of the following of .
functions:
(a) for all

Range: ?
(b) for all ?
Range:
?
Exercise 5 (exercises on provided sheet)

9 10

The straight line shows a sketch of for

the full domain of the function. is a quadratic function with domain all
(a) State the domain of the function. real values of . Part of the graph of is
shown.
? of the line.
(b) Work out the equation (a) Write down the range of .
?
? (b) Use the graph to find solutions of the
equation .
?
(c) Use the graph to solve .
?
Exercise 5 (exercises on provided sheet)

11 The function is defined as: 13

Work out the range of .

?
The function has the domain
12 and is defined as:
[June 2012 Paper 2] A sketch of for
Work out the range of . domain is shown.
The graph is symmetrical about . The
range of is .
Work out the function .
?

?
Constructing a function from a domain/range
June 2013 Paper 2

What would be the simplest

function to use that has this
𝑦 domain/range?
A straight line! Note, that
11 could either be going up or
down (provided ? it starts and
ends at a corner)

What is the equation of this?

3
?
𝑥
1 5
Constructing a function from a domain/range
Sometimes there’s the additional constraint that the function is ‘increasing’ or
‘decreasing’. We’ll cover this in more depth when we do calculus, but the meaning of
these words should be obvious.

is a decreasing function with domain and range .

𝑦
19

7 ?

6 𝑥
4
Exercise 6 (exercises on provided sheet)

1 Domain is . Range . is an increasing function.

?
2 Domain is . Range . is a decreasing function.
?
3 Domain is . Range . is an increasing function.
?
4 Domain is . Range . is a decreasing function.
?
5 Domain is . Range . is a decreasing function.