Inverse Function:

Given a function 𝑓 𝑥 to find the inverse function 𝑓 −1 𝑥

Steps in finding the inverse function
➢ Replace 𝑓 𝑥 with 𝒚.

➢ Interchange the position of 𝒙 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚 ; 𝒙 ⟺ 𝒚

➢ Solve the equation from step 2 for 𝒚

➢ Replace 𝑦 with 𝑓 −1 𝑥 . Here we managed to find the

inverse of a function

➢ Check your answer using 𝑓°𝑓 −1 𝑥 = 𝑥

and 𝑓 −1 °𝑓 𝑥 = 𝑥 are both true.
Example:𝑓 𝑥 = 3𝑥 − 2 , find 𝑓 −1 𝑥
Solution: 𝑓 𝑥 = 3𝑥 − 2
Replace 𝑓 𝑥 to 𝑦: → 𝒚 = 3𝒙𝒙 − 2
Next 𝒙 ⟺ 𝒚 𝒙=
= 3𝒚
3 −2
Now, solve for 𝒚 𝒙 + = 3𝒚
𝟏 𝟏
𝒙 + 2 = 𝟑𝒚
𝟑 𝟑
1
𝑥+2 =𝒚
3
𝑥 2
𝒚= +
3 3
𝒙 𝟐
Replace 𝒚 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑓 −1 𝑥 → 𝒇−𝟏 𝒙 = 𝟑 + 𝟑 is the inverse function

Inverse Function:
This time we’ll check that f 𝟑𝒙 − 𝟐

𝑓°𝑓 −1 𝑥 = 𝑓 𝒇−𝟏 𝒙
= (𝟑𝒙 − 𝟐)
= 𝟑 𝒇−𝟏 𝒙 − 𝟐
𝒙 𝟐 𝒙 𝟐
𝒇 + =𝟑 + −𝟐,
𝟑 𝟑 𝟑 𝟑
= 𝒙+𝟐 −𝟐
✓ 𝒇°𝒇−𝟏 𝒙 = 𝒙

Inverse Function:
 𝒙 𝟐
This time we’ll check that 𝒇−𝟏 𝒙 = +
−𝟏 𝒙 𝟑 𝟐𝟑
𝒇 °𝒇 𝒙 = +
𝟑 𝟑

−𝟏
𝟑𝒙 − 𝟐 𝟐
𝒇 𝒇 𝒙 = +
𝟑 𝟑
𝟑𝒙−𝟐+𝟐
= 𝟑
𝟑𝒙
= 𝟑
✓ 𝒇−𝟏 °𝒇 𝒙 = 𝒙
✓ 𝒇°𝒇−𝟏 𝒙 = 𝒙 and
𝒇−𝟏 °𝒇 𝒙 = 𝒙

Inverse Function:
2. Given 𝒉 𝒙 = 𝟓 − 𝟗𝒙, find 𝒉−𝟏 𝒙
Solution:
➢ Replace ℎ 𝑥 to 𝒚: ℎ 𝑥 = 5 − 9𝑥 ➢ Replace 𝒚 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ ℎ−1 𝑥
𝒙 𝟓
➢ → 𝒚 = 5 − 9𝒙 𝒉−𝟏 𝒙 = − +
𝟗 𝟗

➢ Next 𝒙 ⟺ 𝒚 𝒙 = 5 − 9𝒚
The inverse function of
➢ Now, solve for 𝒚: 9𝒚 = 5 − 𝒙 ℎ 𝑥 = 5 − 9𝑥 is
𝟏 𝟏 𝒙 𝟓
𝟗𝒚 = 5 − 𝑥 𝒉−𝟏 𝒙 = − +
𝟗 𝟗 𝟗 𝟗
5−𝑥
𝒚=
9
𝒙 𝟓
𝒚=− +
𝟗 𝟗
Inverse Function:
This time we’ll check that ℎ 𝑥 = 5 − 9𝑥
ℎ°ℎ−1 𝑥 = 5 − 9𝒙
= 5 − 9 𝒉−𝟏 𝒙
𝒙 𝟓
=5−9 −𝟗 + 𝟗

=5+𝑥−5
✓ ℎ°ℎ−1 𝑥 = 𝑥

Inverse Function:
 −𝟏 𝒙 𝟓
This time we’ll check that 𝒉 𝒙 = −𝟗 + 𝟗

−1
𝒉 𝒙 𝟓
ℎ °ℎ 𝑥 = − +
𝟗 𝟗
✓ ℎ°ℎ−1 𝑥 = 𝑥 and
𝟓−𝟗𝒙 5
✓ ℎ−1 °ℎ 𝑥 = 𝑥 = − 9 +9
−𝟓 + 𝟗𝒙 + 5
=
9
9𝑥
= 9
✓ ℎ−1 °ℎ 𝑥 = 𝑥

Inverse Function:
 1
3. 𝑔 𝑥 = 𝑥 + 7, find 𝑔−1 𝑥
2
1
Solution: 𝑔 𝑥 = 𝑥+7
2 Replace 𝒚 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑔−1 𝑥
1
➢ Replace g 𝑥 to 𝑦:→ 𝒚= 𝒙+7
2 → 𝒈−𝟏 𝒙 = 𝟐𝒙 − 𝟏𝟒
1
➢ Next 𝒙 ⟺ 𝒚 𝒙= 𝒚+7
2
1
➢ Now, solve for 𝒚: −2𝒚 = 7 − 𝑥
𝟏
−𝟐 −𝟐𝒚 = 7 − 𝑥 −𝟐
𝒚 = −14 + 2𝑥
𝒚 = 𝟐𝒙 − 𝟏𝟒
Inverse Function:
 1
This time we’ll check that 𝑔 𝑥 = 2
𝑥+7

−1
1 −1
𝑔°𝑔 𝑥 = 𝑔 𝑥 +7
2
1
= 2𝑥 − 14 + 7
2
= 𝑥−7 +7
✓ 𝑔°𝑔−1 𝑥 = 𝑥

Inverse Function:
This time we’ll check that 𝒈−𝟏 𝒙 = 𝟐𝒙 − 𝟏𝟒
𝑔−1 °𝑔 𝑥 = 𝟐𝒈(𝒙) − 𝟏𝟒
𝟏
=2 𝟐
𝒙 + 𝟕 − 14
1
=2 𝑥 + 2 7 − 14
2

= 𝑥 + 14 − 14
✓ 𝑔−1 °𝑔 𝑥 = 𝑥
✓ 𝑔°𝑔−1 𝑥 = 𝑥 and
✓ 𝑔−1 °𝑔 𝑥 = 𝑥

Inverse Function:
 3
4. Given: 𝑓 𝑥 = 𝑥 − 2 + 1, find 𝑓 −1 𝑥
Solution: 3
𝑓 𝑥 = 𝑥−2 +1
3
Replace 𝑓 𝑥 to 𝑦: → 𝒚 = 𝒙 − 2 +1
3
➢ Next 𝒙 ⟺ 𝒚 𝒙 = 𝒚−2 +1
3
Now, solve for 𝒚: 𝑥−1= 𝑦−2 𝟏
𝟏
𝟑 𝟑
𝑥−1 𝟑 = 𝒚−𝟐
1
𝑥−1 3 =𝒚−2
1
𝑥−1 3 +2=𝒚 1

Replace 𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑓 −1 𝑥 → 𝒇−𝟏 𝒙 = 𝑥 − 1 3 +2

Inverse Function:
 3
This time we’ll check that𝑓 𝑥 = 𝑥 − 2 +1
𝑓°𝑓 −1 𝑥 = 𝑓 −1 (𝑥) − 2 3
+1
1 3
= 𝑥−1 3 +2−2 +1
1 3
= 𝑥−1 3 +2−2 +1
1 3
= 𝑥−1 3 +1
= 𝑥−1 +1
=𝑥−1+1
✓ 𝑓°𝑓 −1 𝑥 =𝑥
Inverse Function:
 1
This time we’ll check that 𝒇−𝟏 𝒙 = 𝒙−1 3 +2
1
−1
𝑓 °𝑓 𝑥 = 𝑓(𝑥) − 1 3 +2
1
3
= 𝑥−2 +1 −1 3 +2
1
3
= 𝑥−2 +1−1 3 +2
1
3 3
= 𝑥−2 +2
✓ 𝑓°𝑓 −1 𝑥 = 𝑥 𝑎𝑛𝑑
= 𝑥−2 +2
✓ 𝑓 −1 °𝑓 𝑥 = 𝑥
=𝑥−2+2
✓ 𝑓 −1 °𝑓 𝑥 = 𝑥
Inverse Function:
Continuity: Consider the graph of
𝑓 𝑥 = 𝑥 3 − 6𝑥 2 − 𝑥 + 30
We can see that there are no “gaps” in
the curve. Any value of 𝑥 will give us a
corresponding value of 𝑦. We could
continue the graph in the negative and
positive directions, and we would never
need to take the pencil off the paper.
Such functions are called continuous
functions
Note: Any polynomial is continuous for all
values of 𝑥
Inverse Function:
 𝟏
Now consider the function 𝒇 𝒙 = 𝒙−𝟏
Here we solve for 𝒙,
𝒙−𝟏=𝟎 We note that the curve
𝒙 = 𝟏, is not continuous at 𝒙 = 𝟏
meaning the value of x
must not equal to zero

1
The graph 𝑓 𝑥 = is discontinuous
𝑥−1
graph
In simple English .The graph of a
continuous function can be drawn
without lifting the pencil from the paper.
Inverse Function:
 2
Example of Discontinuous Here is the graph of the 𝑓 𝑥 = is
𝑥2 − 𝑥
2 discontinuous
1. 𝑓 𝑥 = 2
𝑥 −𝑥
2
Solution: 𝑓 𝑥 = 𝑥 2 −𝑥 factoring the denominator
gives : 𝑥 𝑥 − 1
2 2
𝑓 𝑥 = 𝑥 2 −𝑥 = 𝑥 𝑥−1
X=0
X=1

We observed that the function

is not defined for 𝑥 = 0, and 𝑥 = 1 2
𝑓 𝑥 = = 𝑥 ȁ𝑥 ∈ 𝑅, 𝑥 ≠ 0, 𝑥 ≠ 1
𝑥2 − 𝑥
 𝟏 Solution:
2. f 𝒙 = 𝟏
𝟑𝒙−𝟐 +𝟏 Which is defined at all points except 𝒙 = 𝟐, that is 𝒙 = 𝟐 is a
x=2 point of a discontinuity of the function.
 𝟒𝒕+𝟏𝟎
3. 𝒉 𝒕 = 𝒕𝟐 − 𝟐𝒕 − 𝟏𝟓 = 𝒕 − 𝟓 𝒕 + 𝟑
𝒕𝟐 −𝟐𝒕−𝟏𝟓

Solution: So, the function will not be

Rational functions are continuous continuous at 𝑡 = −3 and 𝑡 = 5
everywhere except where we have 𝟒(−𝟑)+𝟏𝟎 −2
division by zero. So all that we need 𝒉 𝒕 = (−𝟑)𝟐 −𝟐(−𝟑)−𝟏𝟓 = 0
to is determining where the
denominator is zero. That’s easy 𝟒(𝟓)+𝟏𝟎 30
𝒉 𝒕 = (𝟓)𝟐−𝟐(𝟓)−𝟏𝟓 =
enough to determine by setting the 0
denominator equal to zero and
solving
 𝟒𝒕 + 𝟏𝟎 𝒕𝟐 − 𝟐𝒕 − 𝟏𝟓 = 𝒕 − 𝟓 𝒕 + 𝟑
𝒉 𝒕 = 𝟐
𝒕 − 𝟐𝒕 − 𝟏𝟓 𝑡 = −3 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡 = 5
 HOME WORK #2
Please click on CLASSWORKS Tab
in our Google classroom
to open HW#2.