REVIEW

Determine if the given

FUNCTION has an inverse
function or none
Determine if the given
FUNCTION has an inverse
function or none
4x  6
f ( x)  .
5
Determine if the given
FUNCTION has an inverse
function or none
Find the inverse:
f(x) = 3x+6
Objectives:
At the end of the session, the students will be able
to:
•1. determine the domain and range of inverse
function
•2. Graph the inverse function
•3. Prove that the given inverse function is a real
inverse of the given function
 DOMAIN AND
RANGE INVERSE
FUNCTIONS
Inverse Function
 What do we know about the graphs of functions
and their inverses?
Graph, the x and y values of the following function and it’s inverse.
Suggestion: Use two different colors.
If the function y = g(x)
10
contains the points
8

6 x 0 1 2 3 4
4 y 1 2 4 8 16
2
then its inverse, y = g-1(x),
-10 -8 -6 -4 -2 2 4 6 8 10 contains the points
-2

-4 x 1 2 4 8 16
-6
y 0 1 2 3 4
-8

-10
Where is there a
line of reflection?
Warm-up
What do we know about the graphs of functions
and their inverses?
Graphically, the x and y values of a point are
switched.
The point (4, 7)
has an inverse
point of (7, 4)

AND
The point (-5, 3)
has an inverse
point of (3, -5)

Can also use homework problems p. 265/#27 &29

 Notice that the x and y values These functions are
Let’s consider
traded places forthe
thefunction 
functionf x  2reflections
x  1 and of each other
compute
andsome values and graph them.
its inverse. about the line y = x

x f (x)
f x   2 x  1
-2
-1
-3
-1
f 1 x   .5 x  .5 (2,5)
(5,2)
0 1 x f -1(x)
1 3
-3 -2
2 5 (-3,-2) f 1 x   .5 x  .5
-1 -1
Let’s take the
values we got out
1 0 (-2,-3)
of the function and 3 1
put them into the 5 2
inverse function
and plot them
Is this a one-to-one function? Yes, so it will have an inverse
function
 Notice that the x and y values
Let’s consider
traded places for the function f
function
the x   xreflections
3 These functions are
and compute
of each other
some values
and its and graph them.
inverse. about the line y = x

x f (x) (2,8)
f x   x 3
-2
-1
-8
-1
f 1
x   3 x
(8,2)
0 0 x f -1(x)
1 1
2 8 -8 -2 f 1 x   3 x
-1 -1
Let’s take the (-8,-2)
values we got out
0 0
of the function and 1 1
put them into the 8 2
(-2,-8)
inverse function
and plot them
Is this a one-to-one function? Yes, so it will have an inverse
function
What will “undo” a cube? A cube root
What do we know about the graphs of functions
and their inverses?
• f and f -1(x) are inverse functions, and f (a) = b for
real numbers a and b. Then f -1(b) = a.

• If the point (a,b) is on the graph of f, then the

point (b,a) is on the graph of f -1.

• The domain of f is the range of f -1

• The range of f is the domain of f -1
If a function is one-to-one,
the graph of its inverse f -1(x)
is a reflection of the graph of
f across the line y = x.
What do we know about the graphs of functions
and their inverses?
y = f(x) y=x

The graph of a
function and
its inverse are y = f-1(x)
mirror images
about the line

y=x
Is it possible to make a many-to-one functions a
one-to-one function, so an inverse does exist?

Think about the domain and range

• The domain of f is the range of f -1
• The range of f is the domain of f -1

• Thus ... we may be required to restrict the domain

of f so that f -1 is a function
How do you finding the inverse of a
function with a restricted domain?
1
Example Let f ( x )  x  5. Find f ( x).

Solution Notice that the domain of f is

restricted
to [–5,), and its range is [0, ). It is one-to-one and
thus has an inverse. y  x  5
x  y5
x2  y  5
y  x2  5
The range of f is the domain of f -1, so its inverse is
1 2
f ( x)  x  5, x  0.
How do you prove that a function is an inverse of
another function?
Let f be a one-to-one function. Then, g is the
inverse function of f and f is the inverse of g if
( f  g )( x)  x for every x in the domain of g ,
and
( g  f )( x)  x for every x in the domain of f .
How do you prove that a function is an inverse of
another function?
Ex: Verify that f(x)=-3x+6 and g(x)=-1/3x+2 are inverses.
• Meaning find f(g(x)) and g(f(x)). If they both equal x, then they
are inverses.
f(g(x))= -3(-1/3x+2)+6 g(f(x))= -1/3(-3x+6)+2

= x-6+6 = x-2+2
=x =x

** Because f(g(x))=x and g(f(x))=x, they are inverses.

How do you prove that a function is an inverse of
another function?

Composition of Inverse Functions

3 1
f ( x)  x and f ( x)  x 3

• Consider
• f(3) = 27   and   f -1(27) = 3
• Thus, f(f -1(27)) = 27
• and f -1(f(3)) = 3

• In general   f(f -1(x)) = x   and f -1(f(x)) = x

(assuming both f and f -1 are defined for x)
 Important Facts About Inverses

If f is one-to-one, then f -1 exists.

The domain of f is the range of f -1, and the

range of f is the domain of f -1.

If the point (a,b) is on the graph of f, then the

point (b,a) is on the graph of f -1, so the graphs
of f and f -1 are reflections of each other across
the line y = x.
 So geometrically if a function and its inverse are graphed, they
are reflections about the line y = x and the x and y values have
traded places. The domain of the function is the range of the
inverse. The range of the function is the domain of the inverse.
Also if we start with an x and put it in the function and put the
result in the inverse function, we are back where we started
from.
Given two functions, we can then tell if they are inverses of each
other if we plug one into the other and it “undoes” the function.
Remember subbing one function in the other was the
composition function.

So if f and g are inverse functions, their composition would

simply give x back. For inverse functions then:

f  g  f g x   x g  f  g  f x   x