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Function

The document defines basic concepts about functions including the definition of a function, composition of functions, one-to-one and onto functions, inverse functions, and bijections. It provides examples to illustrate these concepts such as the sine and exponential functions.

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nawafhassan187
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12 views

Function

The document defines basic concepts about functions including the definition of a function, composition of functions, one-to-one and onto functions, inverse functions, and bijections. It provides examples to illustrate these concepts such as the sine and exponential functions.

Uploaded by

nawafhassan187
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Some Basic Concepts about Functions

Please read this handout carefully and ask questions in office hours
about any aspect you don’t fully understand.

§1: Basic Definitions

Definition. Let A and B be sets.


• A function f : A → B means that for every a ∈ A, there is a
unique f (a) ∈ B. We call A the domain of f .
• Two functions f, g : A → B are equal, written f = g, if f (a) = g(a)
for all a ∈ A.

Definition. Given functions f : A → B and g : B → C, the composition


g ◦ f : A → C is the function defined by
(g ◦ f )(a) = g(f (a)) for all a ∈ A.

Example. Let f : R → R be f (x) = x2 and g : R → R be g(x) = sin(x).


Then (g ◦ f )(x) = sin(x2 ) and (f ◦ g)(x) = sin(x)2 = sin2 (x).

§2: One-to-One and Onto

Definition. A function f : A → B is:


• one-to-one or 1-1 or injective if for all elements a, b ∈ A,
a 6= b =⇒ f (a) 6= f (b).
• onto or surjective if for every b ∈ B there is at least one a ∈ A
such that f (a) = b.

Facts about One-to-One.


• One-to-one is equivalent to saying that f : A → B is one-to-one if
for all elements a, b ∈ A,
f (a) = f (b) =⇒ a = b.

Example. sin : R → R is not one-to-one but sin : [−π/2, π/2] → R is.

Facts about Onto.


• The range of a function f : A → B is the set
R(f ) = {f (a) | a ∈ A} ⊆ B.
• A function f : A → B is onto if and only if R(f ) = B, i.e., its range
is as big as possible. Be sure you understand this.

Example. sin : R → R is not onto but sin : R → [−1, 1] is onto since [−1, 1]
is the range of sin. Be sure you understand this.
2

§3: Inverse Functions and Bijections

Definition.
• Given any set A, the identity function IA : A → A is the function
defined by IA (a) = a for every a ∈ A.
• Functions f : A → B and g : B → A are called inverse functions
if g ◦ f = IA and f ◦ g = IB .
• A function is bijective if it is one-to-one and onto.

Facts about Inverse Functions.


• Functions f : A → B and g : B → A are inverse functions if and
only if
g(f (a)) = a for all a ∈ A
f (g(b)) = b for all b ∈ B.
• If f : A → B has an inverse function, then the inverse is unique and
is denoted f −1 : B → A.
• If f : A → B has an inverse function f −1 , then f is the inverse of
f −1 , i.e., (f −1 )−1 = f .

Examples of Inverse Functions.


• Let R>0 = (0, ∞) be the set of positive real numbers. Then the
functions ex = exp(x) and ln(x) from calculus give inverse functions
exp : R → R>0 , ln : R>0 → R
since
exp(ln(x)) = eln(x) = x for all x ∈ R>0
ln(exp(x)) = ln(ex ) = x for all x ∈ R.
• sin : [−π/2, π/2] → [−1, 1] and sin−1 = arcsin : [−1, 1] → [−π/2, π/2]
are inverse functions. You studied these functions in calculus.

Facts about Bijections and Inverse Functions


• f : A → B has an inverse function if and only f is bijective.
• If f : A → B and h : B → C are bijections, then the composition
h ◦ f : A → C is a bijection. Furthermore, its inverse function is
given by (h ◦ f )−1 = f −1 ◦ h−1 .

Example of a Bijection. The squaring function f : [0, ∞) → [0, ∞)


defined by f (x) = x2 is bijective (do you see why?). Hence it has an inverse
function f −1 :√[0, ∞) → [0, ∞), which is clearly the square root function,
i.e., f −1 (x) = x.

The “Facts” stated above are theorems whose proofs we will skip. Math 220
covers this material in detail. See also page 156 of the linear algebra text.

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