Science 9 Competency Checklist
Science 9 Competency Checklist
The inverse is usually shown by putting a little "-1" after the function name, like
this:
f-1(y)
We say "f inverse of y"
f-1(y) = (y-3)/2
(I also used y instead of x to show that we are using a different value.)
Example:
f(4) = 2×4+3 = 11
We can then use the inverse on the 11:
f-1(11) = (11-3)/2 = 4
And we magically get 4 back again!
f-1( f(4) ) = 4
"f inverse of f of 4 equals 4"
So applying a function f and then its inverse f-1 gives us the original value back
again:
f-1( f(x) ) = x
We could also have put the functions in the other order and it still works:
f( f-1(x) ) = x
Example:
Start with:
f-1(11) = (11-3)/2 = 4
And then:
f(4) = 2×4+3 = 11
So we can say:
f( f-1(11) ) = 11
"f of f inverse of 11 equals 11"
Fahrenheit to Celsius
A useful example is converting between Fahrenheit and Celsius :
For you: see if you can do the steps to create that inverse!
Inverses Careful!
<=>
(Note: you can read more about Inverse Sine, Cosine and Tangent .)
Careful!
Did you see the "Careful!" column above? That is because some inverses
work only with certain values.
When we square a negative number, and then do the inverse, this happens:
Square:( −2 )2 = 4
Inverse (Square Root):√(4) = 2
But we didn't get the original value back! We got 2 instead of −2. Our fault for
not being careful!
Example: (continued)
No Inverse?
Let us see graphically what is going on here:
Just think ... if there are two or more x-values for one y-value, how do we
know which one to choose when going back?
General Function
No Inverse
But if we can have exactly one x for every y we can have an inverse.
It is called a "one-to-one correspondence" or Bijective , like this
Bijective Function
Has an Inverse