ABSTRACT
At the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
• recognise standard curves and their equations – straight line, quadratic, cubic, trigonometric, circle, ellipse, hyperbola, rectangular hyperbola, logarithmic function, exponential function and polar curves
• perform simple graphical transformations • define a periodic function • define continuous and discontinuous functions • define odd and even functions • define inverse functions • determine asymptotes • sketch curves
In mathematics, a function is a relation between a set of inputs and a set of permissible outputs, with the property that each input is related to exactly one output. An example is the function that relates each real number x to its square x2. The output of a function f corresponding to an input x is denoted by f (x) (read as f of x). In this example, if the input is 2, then the output is 4, i.e. if f (x) = x2 then f (2) = 22 = 4 The input variable(s) are sometimes referred to as the argument(s) of the function.
