Operations on

Functions
Objective
To be able to perform operations
and combinations of functions
algebraically
 Operations with Functions:
 Sum
 f  g  x   f  x   g  x 
 f  g  x   f  x   g  x 
 Difference
 f  g  x   f  x   g  x 
 Product
f  f  x
  x   , where g  x   0
 Quotient g g  x
Example: Let f(x) = 5x² -2x +3 and g(x) = 4x² +7x -5

 Find f+g  Find f-g

f ( x)  g ( x) f ( x)  g ( x)
(5 x 2  2 x  3)  (4 x 2  7 x  5) (5 x 2  2 x  3)  (4 x 2  7 x  5)
5x 2  4 x 2  2x  7 x  3  5 5x 2  4 x 2  2x  7 x  3  5
9x 2  5x  2 x 2  9x  8
Let f(x) = 5x² and and g(x) = 3x – 1
 Find f · g  Find f/g
f  x  g  x f  x
, where g  x   0
5 x  3 x  1
2
g x
5 x  3 x   5 x 1
2 2
5x 2
1
, where x 
15 x  5 x 3 2
3x  1 3
Given : f(x)=2x + 3 and g(x) = x -7

f  g
Find   x  Find   x 
g  f 

2x  3 x7 3
, x7 , x
x7 2x  3 2
Composition of Functions
Another way of combining two functions is to
form the composition of one to the other.
For instance, if f(x)= x and g(x)= x – 2,the
2

composition of f with g is
f(g(x)) = f(x – 2) = (x – 2)2
 
This composition is denoted as which is
read as ‘f composed with g .”
 Domain of f
Domain of g
g f

x g(x) f(g(x)

If we consider 𝒇 𝒈⃘ (x),we see that g is evaluated at x,

so x has to be in the domain of g. We also see that f is
evaluated at g(x),so g(x) has to be in the domain of f.
 Example 1
𝒇(x) = 2x + 2 g(x) = (x + 2)2
Find

 g  f  x   f  g  x 
g(𝘧(x)) = (x + 2)2 𝘧(g(x)) = 2x +2
g(2x +2) = (x + 2)2 𝘧((x+2)²) = 2x +2
= ((2x+2) + 2)2 = 2(x +2)² + 2
= (2x +4)2 = 2(x²+4x +4) + 2
= 4x2 +16x +16 = 2x²+8x +8) + 2
= 2x²+8x+10
Example 2
Find f(x) = 2x + 1 g(x) = (x²+ 3)
and evaluate when x = 2
 f  g  x  g f  x 
𝘧(g(x)) = 2x + 1 g(𝘧(x)) = x²+ 3
g(2x + 1) = x²+ 3
𝘧(x²+ 3) = 2x + 1 = (2x + 1)² + 3
= 2 (x²+ 3) +1 = (4x²+4x +1) + 3
= 2x²+ 6 +1 = 4x²+4x +4
= 2x2 +7 = 4(2)²+4 (2)+4
= 2 (2)2 +7 = 4(4)+8+4
= 2 (4) + 7 = 16 +12
= 15 = 28
Practice

1. Given f(x) = 3x + 4 and g(x) = 5 – x

find  f  g  x   g  f  x 
and evaluate when x = 1

2. Given f(x) = x² and g(x) = x+2

find  f  g  x   g  f  x 
and evaluate when x = -2