1.1: Real Functions

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A mathematical function, denoted \(f\), takes an input \(x\) (which is also called an argument), and returns an output \(f(x)\). For now, we consider the case where both \(x\) and \(f(x)\) are real numbers. The set of possible inputs is the function’s domain, and the set of possible outputs is the range.

Every function must have a well-defined output: for any \(x\) in the domain, \(f(x)\) must be a specific, unambiguous number. In other words, a function must be either a one-to-one (injective) mapping or a many-to-one mapping; the mapping cannot be one-to-many or many-to-many:

Simple examples of functions are those based on elementary algebra operations: \[ \begin{align} f(x) &= x + 2 \,\;\;\qquad\qquad \text{(a one-to-one function)} \\ f(x) &= x^2 + 2x + 4 \qquad \text{(a many-to-one function)}\end{align}\]