II.

 Functions  
Basic Definition and Properties 
Function is a rule (prescription, recipe) which assigns to each number x another number y:

y = f (x)
In other words for a number (x) you get another number (y). This may sound stupid, but is actually
important: there are other “rules” which will produce a function from a function (operators), number from
a function (functionals) etc.

x is called a dependent variable or an argument of the function.

y is called an independent variable or the value of the function.

An important property of a function is that for each x you get ONLY ONE y !
For example:

y = x2 is a function, because each x gives one y (never mind that from two different x
you can get the same y)

y2 = x is NOT a function (of x as an independent variable) because for each x it gives

two values of y:

y = + x or y =  x

(if we switched the variables: x = y2 would be an OK function)

Functions can be graphed (plotted): pairs (x,y) can be plotted in x-y coordinate system, where the x axis
is horizontal and y axis is vertical (perpendicular to x). We call this a Cartesian coordinate system (there
are other systems and ways to plot functions). In general y = f (x) can be represented as a curve:

1
 Important properties of functions: 

Interval of definition (domain): for which x the function is defined. Some functions are defined for all
values of x, others are not:

x is defined only for x  0 (unless we go to Complex numbers)

same for ln(x)

Range (codomain): interval of values where y falls:

y = x2 : y0
y = sin(x) : -1  y  1
y = 2x : y0

Monotonicity: function is monotonic, if it is:

(strictly) increasing: for x1 > x2 f(x1) > f(x2)
(strictly) decreasing: for x1 > x2 f(x1) < f(x2)
non-decreasing: for x1 > x2 f(x1)  f(x2)
non-increasing: for x1 > x2 f(x1)  f(x2)
2.5 1
1 1

0.9
0.8 0.8

2 0.8
0.6 0.6
0.7
y

y
y
y

0.4 0.4
1.5 0.6

0.2 0.2
0.5

1 0.4 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8 10
x x x x

increasing decreasing non-decreasing non-increasing

Parity: even function f(x) =+ f(x) odd function: f(x) = f(x)

0.5
y

odd function
even function

-0.5
-2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2
x

for an odd function, it must be true that f(0) = 0: it always goes through
the origin. Even function is symmetric with respect to y-axis.

Periodicity: function is periodic if f(x + T) = f(x) for all x. T is called the period of the
function: after each period the function repeats itself.

Explicit and Implicit: function may be given explicitly as y = f (x)

(examples are all we’ve seen above.)
But it may be also given implicitly: f (x,y)=0
2
 for example:
sin(x.y)+2x+y = 0

Some implicit functions can be turned into explicit by solving for y, but
some cannot and have to stay in an implicit form.

Shifting a function in x: f(x a) will shift the function f (x) in the x direction by +a. (As you can
easily show by substitution of a for a, f(x+a) will shift the function in
the x direction by  a)

Shifting a function in y: f(x) + C will shift the function f (x) in the y direction by +C
And of course f(x)  C by  C.

14

x2
12
(x-1)2
x2 + 2
10

8
y

-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4
x

Continuous: Continuous function has no “breaks”. Continuous/discontinuous

functions can be rigorously defined by limits (below).

Differentiable: Same as continuous: for continuous function 1st derivative exists

everywhere

“Smooth”: 1st derivative continuous: 2nd derivative exists everywhere.

1 2

1.5 1.5
0.8

1 1
0.6
0.5 0.5
y
y

0.4
0 0

0.2 -0.5
-0.5

0 -1 -1
-4 -2 0 2 4 -4 -2 0 2 4 -4 -2 0 2
x x x

continuous & smooth discontinuous continuous but not smooth

(derivative exist everywhere (discontinuity at 0: derivative (derivative exists everywhere, but
and is continuous) does not exist there) is not continuous at 0)

Integrable: integral from   to  is finite (more on integrals below).

3
Inverse Functions: f­1(x) 

For a function y = f(x) the inverse is f -1(y) = x or x = f -1(y) and by switching x and y (to keep
x as an independent and y dependent variable)
y = f -1(x)

Inverse function essentially means swapping x for y. On the graph (plot) this translates to flipping the
curve around a line that bisects the x-y plane (i.e. line x = y)

8
f(x)
7 f -1(x)
6

5
y

0
0 2 4 6 8
x

-1 1
Be careful, do not confuse inverse function f (x) with
f ( x)

If a function ƒ is not monotonic (i.e. not “one-to-one”) it is necessary to restrict the domain of the inverse
to an interval where f is monotonic. Otherwise f -1 would not be single valued, i.e. it would not be a
function according to the definition.
For example, the function
f ( x)  x 2
is not one-to-one, since x2 = (–x)2. However, the function becomes one-to-one if we restrict to the domain
x ≥ 0, in which case
f 1 ( x )  x
(If we instead restrict to the domain x ≤ 0, then the inverse is the negative of the square root of x.)
Alternatively, there is no need to restrict the domain if we are content with the inverse being a multi-
valued function: 1
f ( x)   x

2 x2
sqrt(x)
  1.5 - sqrt(x)

0.5
y

-0.5

-1

-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5

x

4
Important Types of Functions 
1. Polynomials 

f ( x)  an x n  an1 x n1  ...  a2 x 2  a1 x  a0

The highest n for which an  0 is called the degree (or the order) of the polynomial.

Special cases:
f ( x )  a0 constant function
(it is still a function, not just a number!)
f ( x)  a1 x  a0 linear function
f ( x)  a2 x 2  a1 x  a0 quadratic function

Polynomial equations f ( x)  0 has exactly n roots (n is the order of the polynomial) if we count
repetitions. The roots, however, may be complex.

For example:
f ( x)  x 3  3x 2  3x  1  0 can be written as ( x  1) 3  0 and the three roots are 1, 1, 1.

Here we used binomial theorem:

n n n
n
(a  b) n  a n   a n1b   a n2 b 2  ...  b n    a nk b k
1  2 k 0  k 

where the binomial coefficients are given by a so-called combination number:

n n!
  
 k  k!(n  k )!

and where n! is n factorial: n! = n(n  1)(n  2) …1.

By definition: 0! =1

2.5 2.5 2 2

1.5
2 linear function cubic function
2
1.5 quartic function
quadratic function 1
1.5
1.5
0.5
1

1 0
1
y

0.5
-0.5
0.5
0.5
-1
0 0
0
-1.5

-0.5
-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 -2 -0.5
-0.5 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5
-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5
x

linear quadratic cubic quartic

5
Special cases of polynomial equations:

Linear equation: a1 x  a0  0

a0
solution x (the condition is, of course, a1  0)
a1

Quadratic equation: a2 x 2  a1 x  a0  0

solution : if a0 = 0:
x(a2 x  a1 )  0
x1  0
a1
x2  
a2

if a1 = 0 :
a 2 x 2  a0  0
a0
x2  
a2
a0 a0
x  , x 
a2 a2
(obviously, a0/a2 must be  0)

general:

a1 a12  4a2 a0
x1, 2  
2a 2 2a 2

6
2. Rational functions 

P( x)
f ( x)  where P(x) and Q(x) are polynomials
Q( x)

Examples:

1 x3  2x x3  2
f ( x)  f ( x)  f ( x) 
x 2( x 2  5) x2 1

15 4

8
3
10
6
2
4
5
1
2
0 0

y
y

0
-1
-5 -2
-2
-4
-10
-3
-6

-15 -4
-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4
x x

Rational function is NOT defined at points where the Q(x) has roots.

Partial fractions 
This is extremely useful for integrating rational functions, as we will see later. In general any rational
P( x)
function f ( x )  where degP(x) < degQ(x) (i.e. the polynomial in the denominator is of a higher
Q( x)
degree than that in the numerator) can be simplified by decomposition into partial fractions as follows:

1. Express the denominator Q(x) in terms of products such as (x  a)n and (x2 + bx +c)m

Q( x)  ( x  a1 ) n1 ( x  a 2 ) n2 ...( x 2  b1 x  c1 ) m1 ( x 2  b2 x  c2 ) m2 ...

a1, a2 … are the roots of the polynomial. Sometimes, it cannot be completely reduced: that is where the
irreducible factors (x2 + bx +c) … arise (note that b can be 0). In general any polynomial can be
expressed in the above form.

2. For each (x  a)n we obtain partial fractions:

A1 A1 An
  ... 
( x  a) ( x  a) 2
( x  a) n
where A1, A2, … An are constants that can be determined by substitutions for x (see examples below).

7
3. For each (x2 +bx +c)m we obtain partial fractions:

A1 x  B1 A2 x  B2 Am x  Bm
  ... 
(ax  bx  c) (ax  bx  c)
2 2 2
(ax 2  bx  c) m

where A1, A2, … Am and B1, B2, … Bm are again constants to be determined.

Examples:

3x  5
1.
x  4x  3
2

denominator is of the order 2 > numerator of the order 1

denominator can be fully reduced, because x 2  4 x  3  ( x  1)( x  3)

therefore:

3x  5 3x  5

x  4 x  3 ( x  1)( x  3)
2

the partial fraction decomposition will look like:

3x  5 A B
 
( x  1)( x  3) ( x  1) ( x  3)

to determine A and B get rid of the fractions by multiplying the equation by ( x  1)( x  3) :

3 x  5  A( x  3)  B ( x  1)

substitute 3 for x (x = 3) - that will kill the term with A - and solve for B:

3.3  5  A(3  3)  B(3  1)

14  2B
B  7

now substitute 1 for x (x = 1) to similarly get rid of the B and solve for A:

3.1  5  A(1  3)  B(1  1)

8   2A
A  4

and put it all together:

3x  5 4 7
 
x  4 x  3 ( x  3) ( x  1)
2

8
2. if there are roots with higher multiplicity, i.e. terms such as (x  a)n n >1, the expansion must contain
fractions with all powers of (x  a) from 1 to n.

3x  5 A B C
  
(1  x) 3
(1  x) (1  x) 2
(1  x) 3

To get the constants, proceed as before:

3x  5  A(1  x) 2  B(1  x)  C

And substitute three times for x to get three equations for A, B, C.

Substituting x = 1 gives C = 8, substituting x = 0 and x =  1 gives two equations for the remaining two:

5  A B 8
2  4 A  2B  8

One way to deal with these is to get A from the first equation (dependent on B), plug in the second one,
get B and plug back into the first to finally get A.
Another way is to multiply the first equation by 2 and add the two, so that B subtracts out:

12  6 A  24
A  2
and then substitute A to the first one:

5  2  B  8
B  1

and write the final decomposition:

3x  5 2 1 8
  
(1  x) 3
(1  x) (1  x) 2
(1  x) 3

You can verify that it really works.

3. If you have irreducible factors (x2 + bx +c)m, the partial fraction has Ax + B in the numerator. If they
have higher multiplicity than one (m > 1), the same rule as in 2. holds: all powers from the first up m must
be included:

3x 2  7 x 2  5 A B Cx  D Ex  F
   2  2
(1  x) ( x  2)
2 2 2
(1  x) (1  x) 2
( x  2) ( x  2) 2

You can try for yourself to determine the constants A, B, C, D, E, F.

9
What if degP(x) > degQ(x)? 

In that case we reduce the rational function to the form

P( x) P ' ( x)
f ( x)   R ( x) 
Q( x) Q( x)

where now degP’(x) < degQ(x). This can be done by polynomial division - an equivalent of long division
of two big complicated numbers. For example:

x 3  12 x 2  42
x2  4

first write it as division:

x 3
 12 x 2  42 : ( x 2  4)
then divide the greatest power in the numerator by the greatest power of the denominator and write it
down as an “intermediate result”
x 3
 12 x 2  42 : ( x 2  4)  x

multiply your “intermediate result” by the denominator and write it under the numerator

x 3

 12 x 2  42 : ( x 2  4)  x
x3  4x

then subtract what you’ve just written from the numerator to get the “remainder after division”

x 3

 12 x 2  42 : ( x 2  4)  x


x 3
 4x 
 12 x  4 x  42
2

and repeat the previous steps again:

x 3

 12 x 2  42 : ( x 2  4)  x  12
 x 3
 4x
 12 x 2  4 x  42

  12 x 2  48 
 4 x  90
and you can leave it right there, just write the division of your last remainder as a ratio:

x 3  12 x 2  42 4 x  90
 x  12  2
x 4
2
x 4  
The last fractional function has degP’(x) < degQ(x) and you can test your skills by decomposing it into
partial fractions.

10
3. Exponential functions 

f ( x)  a x

a is called the base, x is the exponent. Exponentials are very important throughout physical chemistry. In
particular special cases, where a = 10, and even more when a = e = 2.7182818 … (Euler number).

The rules for exponents hold, namely:

y x y
a x .a  a
y x y
ax /a  a
 a x   a x. y
y

 

1
An important one is: a x 
ax

Note that
x
1. for any a, a > 0 : exponential function is always positive.
x
2. for x = 0 a = 1 for any a. In other words any exponential function will by 1 for x = 0 and its plot will
cross the y-axis at y = 1.
3. Any exponential for x < 0 will be < 1, for x > 0 it will be > 1:

10

7 ex
6 10x
5
y

-0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8

x

11
4. Logarithmic functions 

f ( x)  log a ( x)

Logarithms are inverse of exponential functions, i.e. if y  a x then x  log a ( y ) . Like with
exponentials, a is called the base.
If a = e (Euler number), called the natural base of logarithm, log e ( x) is denoted ln(x) called natural
logarithm.
If a =10, log10 ( x) is often denoted as log(x) (i.e. the base is dropped) and called common logarithm.

Important Properties of Logarithms: 

1. Logarithms exist only for positive values of x. Any logarithm of 1 is zero:

log a (1)  0 for any a

and graphs of logarithms will all cross x-axis at x =1.

2. For x <1 all logarithms are < 0, for x > 1 all logarithms are > 0

1.5

0.5

0
y

-0.5
ln(x)
log10(x)
-1

-1.5

-2
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
x

3. Logarithms of products, ratios and powers (hold for all logarithms):

log a ( xy)  log a ( x)  log a ( y )

x 1
log a    log a ( x)  log a ( y )  log a     log a ( y )
 y  y
 log a x    log a ( x)
1
log a ( x y )  y log a ( x)

12
Some more gymnastics with exponentials and logarithms: 

Because exponential and logarithmic functions are inverses of each other, the following is true:

log a x
log a (a x )  x and a x

specifically for natural logarithm:

ln(e x )  x and e ln x  x

Change of base:

Exponentials and logarithms with different bases are related and often it is convenient to switch from one
to another. Because the natural logarithm is the most frequently used, we will show it for natural
logarithm, but it can be done for any bases.

Exponential:
log a (e x ) x log a (e)
ex  a a
or
ln(a x ) x ln(a )
ax  e e

The relation adds a constant to the exponent ! Remember: e and a are contants, loga(e) or ln(a) are also
constants.

Logarithm:
take a logarithm (base a) of the following: y  ex
log a ( y)  log a (e x )  x log a (e)
but because y  e x , x = ln(y). Substitute for x into the above and get

log a ( y)  log a (e x )  x log a (e)  ln( y) log a (e)

now rename y to x and we have the following relationship:

log a ( x)  ln( x) log a (e)

from which we can also get:

ln( x)  log a ( x) log a (e) (*)

Therefore, two logarithms with different bases are directly proportional to each other and differ only by a
multiplicative constant !

13
 y  ax
Going to other way:
ln( y )  ln(a x )  x ln(a)  log a ( y ) ln(a)

therefore: ln( x)  log a ( x) ln(a ) (**)

1
Now comparing (*) and (**) we should get that  ln(a) . Is that true?
log a (e)

To make an even more specific example, consider a =10, i.e. conversion between the natural and common
logarithm:

ln(x)  log(x) ln(10)  2.30258...log(x)

ln(x)  log(x) / log(e)  log(x) / 0.43429...  2.30258...log(x)

and the other way

log(x)  ln(x) log(e)  0.43429. log(x)

log(x)  ln(x) / ln(10)  log(x) / 2.30258...  0.43429log(x)

So it looks like it all checks out.

You can see that logarithms are pretty much equivalent functions: their values for different bases differ
only by a constant that can be easily calculated. That’s why natural (ln) and common (log) logarithms are
sometimes used almost interchangeably.

14
 5. Trigonometric functions 

f ( x)  sin(x) f ( x)  cos(x)

f ( x)  tan(x) f ( x)  cot(x)

These functions are related to the basic trigonometry, i.e. functions of angles in a right-angled triangle.
They can also be “visualized” in terms of a unit circle (circle with radius =1), which provides definitions
for all angles (triangle works only for angles between 0 and /2 (0 and 90o).

a a
sin( )  tan( ) 
h b
b b 1
cos( )  cot( )  
h a tan( x)

Basic properties

sin(x) cos(x) tan(x) cot(x)

domain  to   to   to   to 
not defined for not defined for
x=2, 32, 52 … x, 2, 3…
(odd multiples of 2) (even multiples of 2)
codomain -1 to 1 -1 to 1  to   to 
period 2 2  
parity odd even odd odd
sin( x)   sin(x) cos( x)  cos(x) tan( x)   tan(x) cot( x)   cot(x)
relationships sin(x)  cos( 2  x) cos(x)  sin( 2  x) tan(x)  sin(x) cos(x) cot(x)  cos(x) sin(x)
sin 2 ( x )  cos 2 ( x )  1 tan(x)  1 cot(x) cot(x)  1 tan(x)

15
Graphs of trigonometric functions: 

sin(x) and cos(x)

Note that sin and cos are essentially the same, just
shifted in x with respect to each other.

tan(x) cot(x)

                
 

Other Important Trigonometric Formulas: 

sin( x  y )  sin x cos y  cos x sin y

cos( x  y )  cos x cos y  sin x sin y

note that in the second one the signs are reversed on the right hand side. From these formulas many others
useful ones can be derived.
For a completely complete list, see e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_trigonometric_identities

16
 Trigonometric equations and roots 

Trignometric functions can appear in equations and they also have roots. Because they are periodic, there
will be generally an infinite number of solutions (or roots), separated by the period of the function, or the
multiple.
For example
sin(x) = 0

is true for all x = n, where n is any integer (positive or negative), because x crosses zero at any multiple
of . Note that zero is repeated every  even though the period of sine is 2. On the other hand,

sin(x)=1, which is the same as sin(x)  1 = 0

is true for x = /2 + n.2 with any integer n. In general, if you have some more complicated function
inside sin or cos etc., you can use the following

sin(f(x)) = 0 f(x) = n

cos(f(x)) = 0 f(x)=(2n+1)i.e. odd multiples of etc.

tan(f(x)) = 0 f(x) = n

cot(f(x)) = 0 f(x) = n

with n, again, being any integer number.

 

6. Inverse trigonometric functions 

y  sin(x)  x  arcsin(y) y  cos(x)  x  arccos(y)

y  tan(x)  x  arctan(y) y  cot(x)  x  arc cot( y)

These are inverses of the trigonometric functions above. Because sin, cos, tan and cot are non-monotonic
and periodic, their inverses can be defined only for limited domains (or codomains). For this reason, using
inverse trigonometric functions to solve trigonometric equations (such as those above) will not give you
all the solutions or roots, but only one.

arcsin(x) arccos(x) arctan(x) arccot(x)

domain 1 to 1 1 to 1  to   to 
except for x=0
codomain /2 to /2 0 to  /2 to /2 /2 to /2
parity odd - odd odd
arcsin( x)   arcsin(x) arctan( x )   arctan( x )

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 1.5
3

2.5
arcsin(x) 1
2
arccos(x) arctan(x)
arccot(x)
1.5 0.5

1
0
y

y
0.5

0 -0.5

-0.5
-1
-1

-1.5 -1.5
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5
x x

7. Hyperbolic functions 

We will not use them much, just f.y.i.

Hyperbolic functions are defined in terms of exponentials (we will see later that similar relationships can
be written for the trigonometric functions in terms of complex exponentials):

e x  e x e x  e x
sinh( x)  cosh(x) 
2 2
sinh( x) e x  e  x 1 cosh(x) e x  e  x
tanh( x)   coth( x)   
cosh( x) e x  e  x tanh( x) sinh( x) e x  e  x

Some important identities:

cosh 2 ( x)  sinh 2 ( x)  1
sinh( x  y )  sinh( x) cosh( y )  cosh( x) sinh( y )
cosh( x  y )  cosh( x) cosh( y )  sinh( x) sinh( y )

Inverse hyperbolic functions can be defined in terms of logarithms (i.e. inverse exponentials).

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