Pre-Calculus Notes

Functions
The main objects of study in the course are
real-valued functions. Such a function f in-
volves an input set (called the domain) of real
numbers, an output set of real numbers (called
the codomain), and a rule that assigns to each
number in the domain exactly one number in
the codomain.
Domain of a Function
Most of you have seen (and will continue to
see!) functions dened as input-output formu-
las . The formula is the rule mentioned in the
denition, but the formula also implicitly tells
us the domain and codomain of the function.
We will not worry so much about the codomain
but we will be particularly concerned with nd-
ing the domain of a function. So if a function
is given by a formula and no other informa-
tion, then the domain is assumed to be the
largest set of real numbers that make sense in
the formula.
The standard notation for dening a function is
f(x) = some formula with x

s in it. The letter

x is called the independent variable or the input
variable. Sometimes we will use a t or some
other letter depending on the situation.
We also write y = some formula with x

s in it
when we want to describe a function. Here the
y is a dependent variable because it depends
on what we choose x to be. We choose an x
and a particular y is determined.
For example, if I dene a function by
f(x) = x
2
I see that any real number makes sense in this
formula so the domain of f will be all real num-
bers.
In particular, I could have dened
g(x) = x
2
; x 0
in which case I am specifying the domain along
with the rule. These are two dierent func-
tions even though they have the same rule.
You may not see that right now, but you will
when we discuss graphs!
If I dene a function by
f(x) =

x
2
4
To gure out the domain, I have to remember
that only non-negative numbers are allowed
under the radical.
So nding the domain of f here means nd-
ing all real numbers that make the following
inequality true.
x
2
4 0
If I dene a function by
g(x) =
1
x
2
2x +1
then nding the domain means nding all real
numbers that do NOT make the denominator
zero - we can do this by nding those that do
and then taking the rest!
In other words, we need to solve the following
equation for x so that the domain can be all
the real numbers that do NOT equal any of
those values of x!
x
2
2x +1 = 0
Finding the domain is just one reason why
it is incredibly important to remember how
to solve equations and inequalities from
pre-calculus.
It will also be an important part of our
Calculus tool box for deciding whether and
where a function has highest and lowest
points on it!
The Graph of a Function
An important way to represent and understand
a function is by its graph. The graph of a func-
tion f is the set of all points in the Cartesian
plane of the form: (#, f(#)).
For example, if f(x) = x
2
, then we only graph
points of the form: (#, (#)
2
).
This means (3, 9), (4, 16), (,
2
) are on the
graph, while (2, 7) is not because 7 = 2
2
.
Another way to think about this is that we plot
all of the solutions of the two variable equation
y = f(x).
For example, we view y = x
2
as an equation in
two variables and the solution to such a solu-
tion is a pair of numbers - one to plug in for x
and another to plug in for y.
To avoid confusion, we insist on writing an or-
dered pair with the convention that the rst
number gets plugged in for x and the the sec-
ond number gets plugged in for y.
Some pairs make the equation true and others
do not. We can test the pair (2, 7) by putting
x = 2 and y = 7 to get: 7 = 2
2
which is false
so the ordered pair (2, 7) is not a solution while
the pair (3, 9) IS a solution.
Then we plot only those ordered pairs that
make the equation true (in the Cartesian plane)
to obtain the graph of the function f(x) = x
2
.
This is why we also use the notation y = x
2
to
dene the function.
The graph of a function f is a curve in the
plane that satised the Vertical Line Test (VLT).
This is because of the exactly one output
part of the denition. In the following exam-
ple, we have a curve that fails the VLT:
Notice from the picture both (2, 1.5) and (2, 1.5)
are both on the graph - i.e. the vertical line
x = 2 touches the curve in two places.
This would mean the number 2 has two dier-
ent outputs which violates the denition of a
function.
Intercepts
Something else that we will need to be able
to nd directly from the formula are the x and
y-intercepts of the graph.
These are the points where the graph of a
function will cross the x and y axes respec-
tively.
Suppose f is a function. Then we know f can
have at most one y-intercept because the y
axis is a vertical line so it can only touch the
graph in one place.
If x = 0 is in the domain of f, then f(0) is the
y-intercept. If x = 0 is NOT in the domain,
then f has no y intercept.
A function f can have more than one x-intercept.
In order to nd these, we need to nd the x
coordinate(s) on the graph of f whose y coor-
dinate is 0.
Since every y coordinate of a point on the
graph of f is of the form f(x) for some x co-
ordinate, we need to nd those x for which
f(x) = 0.
So again, we have to remember how to solve
all dierent kinds of equations - algebraic ones,
trigonometric ones, and equations involving ex-
ponentials and logarithms!
Lets look at some examples:
Suppose f is dened by
f(x) = 3x
2
7x +1
Finding the x-intercepts of f means nding the
solutions to 3x
2
7x +1 = 0 - i.e. so we need
to remember how to solve quadratic equations.
Suppose g is dened by:
g(x) = 3e
x
7
Then to nd the x-intercepts, we need to be
able to solve 3e
x
7 = 0 - i.e. an exponential
equation.
Suppose h is dened by:
h(x) = 2sinx +1; [, ]
Then nding the x-intercepts means being able
to solve the trig equation: 2sinx + 1 = 0 on
the interval [, ].
You will get some practice solving equations
and inequalities involving the familiar functions
on the Pre-Calculus Worksheet.
Some Familiar Functions
Here is a list of some functions that you should
be familiar with.
1. Linear functions: f(x) = mx + b where
m, b are constants.
2. Power functions: f(x) = x
p
for some
xed real number p.
If p is a positive whole number then we
have: x
2
, x
3
, x
4
, . . .
If p is a negative whole number then we
have: x
1
=
1
x
,
x
2
=
1
x
2
, . . . - i.e the reciprocals of the
positive whole number powers.
If p =
m
n
where m, n are positive whole
numbers: x
1/2
=

x, x
4/3
=
3

x
4
, . . .
If p is a negative fractional exponent,
then we have the reciprocals of the pre-
vious powers - i.e. x

1
2
=
1

x
.
If p is some other kind of real number
then we have weird powers that we will
talk about later! This includes stu like:
f(x) = x

3. Polynomial Functions: the formula for

f(x) is a sum of terms of the form ax
p
where a is a is a coecient and p is a pos-
itive whole number exponent.
Examples include expressions such as x
3

3x +7 but do not include 3

x +
1
x
.
4. Rational Functions: f(x) =
p(x)
q(x)
where
p(x) and q(x) are polynomial expressions.
For example: f(x) =
x
2
3x
x +1
5. Exponential Functions: f(x) = e
x
. We
will briey discuss exponential functions with
other bases (like g(x) = 2
x
) but will quickly
specialize to base e for reasons that will be-
come clear later.
6. Logarithmic Functions: f(x) = lnx. Again,
we will only discuss the natural logarithm
because we are only going to deal with the
exponential with base e.
7. Trigonometric Functions: sinx, cos x, tanx
will be the most important along with the
inverse of the tangent function - a function
called the arc tangent function.
Some Graphs
You should be familiar with the graphs of some
of the standard functions mentioned above. In
particular, you should be able to graph any lin-
ear function for sure! Here are some others:
In the graph below, there are three functions
graphed. The purple one is y = e
x
, the black
line is y = x and the red curve is y = lnx.
The reason the black line is there is because
the and black curves are reections of each
other across this line. Check it out!
That means if the point (a, b) is on the y = e
x
curve, then the point y = (b, a) is on the y =
lnx curve!
This is because the natural logarithm is the
inverse of the exponential function with base
e.
Observe that y = e
x
has no y-coordinates that
are 0 or negative which implies y = lnx has no
x-coordinates that are 0 or negative.
This means the domain of y = lnx is only real
numbers x > 0 while the domain ofy = e
x
is all
real numbers.
In the next graph, we have graphed some pos-
itive integer power functions. The black curve
is y = x
2
, the blue is y = x
3
and the black is
y = x
4
.
If you graph the even integer powers, they will
all look like the black parabola but they will
get wider and wider at the bottom - but both
ends will point upward because the power is
even.
If you graph the odd powers, the right end will
point up and the left will point down but the
basic shape will be the same as the blue cubic
curve.
In this graph we have negative powers of x.
The black curve - which has two pieces- is y =
x
1
=
1
x
, the greenish-blue curve is y = x
2
=
1
x
2
, and the purple curve is y = x
3
=
1
x
3
.
Notice that the odd powers have one piece in
the rst quadrant and one in the third quadrant
(because negative numbers raised to a nega-
tive power are negative!), while the even pow-
ers have pieces in Quadrants I and II.
All of these have domain x = 0 which is why
there are no y-intercepts on any of them.
Finally we have the sine and cosine functions
graphed on the same copy of the plane here.
The black one is y = sinx (you can tell because
sin(0) = 0) while the red one is y = cos x.
The main feature of these functions that make
them a necessary part of our study is that they
are periodic.
We can look at each of these on the interval
[0, 2] and we will see a piece that repeats over
and over again. We will discuss this further
when necessary.
For now, what is important is that you recog-
nize the shape of this graph and a few of the
important values of it.
You probably dont remember most of your
trig, but it will come back to you when you
need it...hopefully!
One feature of these functions that we will
use almost immediately is that the outputs for
both are never larger than 1 or less than -1. I
can write that this way:
1 sin( ) 1 1 cos( ) 1
where I am allowed to put anything inside the
( ).
Transformations of Graphs
Here we want to look at some graphs we can
obtain from some transforming the graph of
a known function. For example, we know the
standard graph of the function f(x) = x
2
is a
parabola with vertex at the origin.
We also know that the graph of any quadratic
function (i.e. g(x) = ax
2
+ bx + c) is also a
parabola. In fact we can obtain the graph of
g by transforming the graph of the standard
parabola f with the operations I am about to
discuss.
Let f be a function. I will discuss each trans-
formation in two ways: we will see how the
formula changes as well as describing the geo-
metric transformation that takes place on the
graph.
The Transformations
Here C will denote an arbitrary constant.
Vertical Translation: y = f(x) C
Horizontal Translation: y = f(x C).
Reection across the x-axis: y = f(x).
Reection across the y-axis: y = f(x).
Dilation: y = C f(x)
Compression: y = f(C x)
Lets stick with the parabola f(x) = x
2
for the
translations.
The dotted graph is y = x
2
, the red graph is
y = x
2
+3, and the blue graph is y = (x+3)
2
.
Observe the dierence in the formulas. x
2
+3
means rst square the x, then add 3 while
(x + 3)
2
means rst add 3, then square the
result.
The eect of adding 3 after squaring is that
the y coordinates from the original parabola all
move up by 3.
The eect of adding 3 before squaring is that
the vertex moves to -3 - intuitively, you are
shifting the x axis to the right by 3 before
graphing the parabola which makes it look as
if the parabola moved to the left by 3.
Students tend to nd the latter of these (the
horizontal translation) counterintuitive because
+3 should move the graph to the right...
it doesnt move the graph to the right, it moves
the x-axis to the right before graphing which
makes the graph look like it moved to the left!
For the reections we will use a dierent func-
tion because the parabola is a bit too symmet-
ric to see whats going on.
In particular, since (x)
2
= x
2
, you would no-
tice no change in the graph for y = f(x).
So lets look at g(x) =

x as our beginning
graph (dotted) and with it we graph
y = g(x) =

x (in red) and

y = g(x) =

(x) (in blue).

Notice the domain of g(x) is x 0 because
the domain of g(x) is x 0.
Putting the minus sign after taking the square
roots, makes all of the y-coordinates on the
square root curve the opposite sign which is
why the entire graph gets reected across the
x-axis - i.e. goes from above the x-axis to
below!
Putting the minus sign before squaring takes
a negative x, makes it positive, then takes the
square root. This is they the domain changes
from positives to negatives (and zero is allowed
in both!).
Another view - we are reecting the x-axis
through 0 before graphing the square root func-
tion which is why the graph appears on the
other side of the y-axis!
For the dilation and compression we will use a
dierent function again - this time we will use
h(x) = sinx. You probably remember this type
of transformation from trig class.
Here we graph y = h(x) as a dotted curve,
y = 3h(x) = 3sinx as the red curve, and
y = h(3x) = sin(3x) as the blue curve.
Multiplying by 3 after applying the sine func-
tion scales all of the y-coordinates by 3 which
is why the range of 3h(x) is now 3 y 3.
Multiplying by 3 before applying the sine func-
tion has the eect of dilating the x-axis before
applying the sine function so that it appears
the graph got compressed by a factor of 3.
This has the same counterintuitive issue as the
horizontal translation!!!