Functions and Graphs

No category Today 16:05

What is a function?
A function is a relationship between two or more variables. In this case, we
will focus on 'x' and 'y'.
Example:
y = x + 2 describes the relationship between y and x. For every value of 'y' ,
you must add 2 to a value of 'x' .

What does this above relationship tell you?

It tells you that the value of 'y' depends on the value of 'x' , hence x and y are
called the independent and dependent variables respectively.
Since y depends on x, we can define any function of x as 'f(x), g(x), q(x)....'.
Note that a function describes a relationship and from that, we can draw a
graph.

Types of Functions:
1. Linear function - has an equation y = mx + c ( won't dwell on this one)
2. Quadratic function - has an equation y = ax² + bx + c
3. Hyperbola function - has an equation y = a/(x+p) +q
4. Exponential function - has an equation y = a.b^x + q

Let us go back to the quadratic function:

The quadratic equation can be expressed in 3 ways:
y = ax² + bx + c
 y a(x x1)(x x2)
y = a(x+p)² + q
The third representation of the quadratic function is very important because it
is easy to identify the turning point as you can read it off from the equation.

Example:
y = (x-2)² + 9
The turning point is (2,9)

How do we draw the graph of a parabola function??

* Determine the intercepts with the axes
* Identify the value of a which will tell you about the shape( if a>0, the graph
concaves down but if a<0 it concaves up)
* Determine the turning point
* Clearly label all of the above mentioned points on your sketch

What if we are given the 1st representation instead of the third one?

That means that we cannot easily read off the turning point, so how do we
find the turning point?
Make use of the axis of symmetry formula( x = -b/2a)

Example:
f(x) = 2x² + 4x - 8
x = -(4)/2(2)
x = - 1 ( axis of symmetry which is the x coordinate of the turning point)
To find the y-coordinate, substitute the x-coordinate on the equation
f(-1) = 2(-1)² +4(-1) -8= -10
Therefore, (-1,-10) is the turning point
Let us go back to the hyperbola function:

y = a/x , which is the mother graph of a hyperbola has asymptotes at x=0 and
y=0. Not all the time this will be the case, because the graph can be shifted
horizontally and vertically.
In the case of shifts, the equation changes to y = a/(x+p) +q
where p and q represent the horizontal and vertical shifts respectively.

How do we draw the graph of a hyperbola?

* Identify the value of a( if a > 0, the graph will lie on 1st and 3rd quads)
* Determine the equations of the asymptotes ( x = -p and y = q)
* Intercepts with the axes

Let us go back to the exponential function:

* The value of 'a' tells you about whether the graph will lie above / below the
horizontal asymptote. ( If a > 0, the graph lies above the asymptote but if a < 0
it lies below)
* The value of b tells you about whether the graph is increasing or decreasing
for all values of x ( we will discuss this in an example)
* q is the horizontal asymptote

Example:
y = 3.2^x
a = 3 which is greater than 0 telling us that the graph will lie above y = 0
(horizontal asymptote)
If b €(0,1), the graph will be decreasing for all values of x.
If b > 1, the graph is increasing for all values of x
In the above example, b = 2 meaning that the graph will increase for all
values of x

Example 2:
y = -(½)^x + 8
a = -1 which implies that the graph will lie below y = 8
b = ½ which is between 0 and 1 which implies that the graph will decrease for
values of x

How do we draw the graph?

* Identify the value of a
* Identify the value of b
* Intercepts with the axes
* Asymptote

Domain and Range:

The domain is the set of all x-values that make the function to be defined.
The range consists of all y-values that corresponds with the x-values.
For a straight line, the domain and range consists of all real numbers
Take for instance y = 2x + 8, you can substitute any value of x to the equation
and you will find a corresponding value of y. Similarly, you can substitute any
value of y, and you will find a corresponding x - value. x€R and y€R is the
domain and range of a straight line graph respectively.

What about the parabola?

For the domain, x takes all real numbers but it is false to say the range is y€R.
Why is it the case?

The parabola has a turning point, meaning that at a particular value of y , the
graph attains its max/min
Example:
y = x²
This graph turns at y = 0 meaning that it takes only the values of y that are
above 0, which implies that y=0 is the minimum value of y = x²
Range will be y >= 0
How can we make sense of this idea of the range mathematically?
Substitute a negative value of y in y = x²
-1 = x²
It turns out that there is no solution to the above equation which supports the
that y>=0.

Proposition: The range of the parabola will be y>= q if a >0, but will be y<=q if
a<0

Domain and Range of a Hyperbola:

Take the mother graph y = a/x

Recall that this graph is defined everywhere except for where x = 0 and y = 0
What does that tell you?
It tells you that the domain takes all values of x except for x = 0 ( x€R x≠ 0)
and that the range takes all the values of y except for y = 0 ( y€R y≠0)

Example:
f(x) = 2/(x+4) + 9
a) What is the domain of f?
The graph has shifted 4 units to the left from the mother graph, which implies
that x = -4 is the vertical asymptote.
The domain is x€R, x≠-4
b) What is the range of f?
The graph has shifted 9 units upwards from the mother graph, which implies
that y = 9 is the horizontal asymptote
The range is y€R, y≠9

Domain and Range of an exponential graph:

Take f(x) = 2^x

You can substitute any value of x, and you will get a corresponding y- value
which implies that any value of x makes f to be defined. This implies that the
domain of any exponential function is x€R.

What about the range?

For f(x) = 2^x, it can be seen from the equation that if you substitute any value
less than or equal to 0, there will be no solution which implies that the range
of f is y>0 .
Remember that y = 0 is an equation of a horizontal asymptote

Let us make a generalization;

For every exponential graph, its range will be y > q for a > 0 and y < q for a < 0

Example:
y = -3^x + 8
q = 8 and a = - 1 (a≠-3 but b=3)
The range of this graph is y < 8 since a < 0
But why?
* when drawing the exponential graph, you recall that it will lie below its
asymptote provided that a < 0 , which is why y < 8 in this instance.
Nature of roots:
* Roots are solutions to an equation, particularly x-values. e.g for
x²-9x+20=0 , the roots are x = 5 and x = 4.
* Roots are said to be real when Δ >= 0 ( Δ = b²-4ac)
* Roots are said to be non-real when Δ<0.
* Roots are said to be equal when Δ=0
* Roots are said to be rational/irrational when Δ>=0

Above, was just a recap of the nature of the roots. I will do some examples
including roots in the context of functions.

Inverses:
An inverse function of a certain function f is the reflection of it over the line
y=x.

Inverse of a straight line:

f(x) = mx + c
To determine the inverse function, you interchange x and y and make y the
subject
x = my + c
my = x - c
y = x/m - c/m
This one is quite easy. The domain and range is x€R and y€R

Inverse of a parabola:
Take f(x) = x² - 4
Interchange x and y
x = y² -4
y² = x + 4 ( Notice that this relationship tells us that there are two y-values
corresponding to a single value which does not pass the vertical line test)
How do we make the inverse to be a function(pass the vertical test)?
One thing that we can do is to restrict the domain of the original function
Take f(x) = x² - 4 for x >=0
x = y² - 4
y² = x+4 for x>=0( It will pass the vertical line test now because we are
looking at the positive x-axis only)
You can also restrict the domain to x<=0

The domain of an inverse function of a parabola is the range of of the

parabola. The range of the inverse is the domain of the parabola. We will do
as many examples as we can on this one. It is doable, you will see.