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Course: Algebra 1 > Unit 8
Lesson 13: Intro to inverse functionsFinding inverse functions: linear
Sal finds the inverses of f(x)=-x+4 and g(x)=-2x-1. Created by Sal Khan.
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really helpful this video but i would like to ask whether inverse functions are involved with or have anything to do with reciprocals?(25 votes)
Not any relationship between reciprocal and inverse that I can think of. Unfortunately the notation for inverse is f⁻¹ which LOOKS like you're raising something to the -1st power which is taking the reciprocal. It's a coincidence: the symbols look the same but have nothing to do with each other.(58 votes)
- If the slope was -1/2 why didn't he go over 1 and down 2?(10 votes)
- Hi Andrew. Slope is rise/run, where rise is the amount of change in y-value (up or down), and run is the value of increase along the x-value (moving right). So -1/2 slope means down 1, right 2. I hope this helps you, but I'm tired and not sure this is written clearly.(30 votes)
Why do we need to know the inverse of a function ?(9 votes)
Inverses are all over, the inverse of + is - and the inverse of multiplication is division, and there are plenty of others! I can think of a few reasons for wanting to know. The first is kind of a reverse engineering thing. If you can find the inverse of a function then you can "undo" what the function did. For example, if you now the formula to convert degrees Celsius into degrees Fahrenheit, the inverse will convert Fahrenheit to Celsius. If a function does not have an inverse, it tells us something about the the function and it's shape. When we know if a function has an inverse or not, we can know that the function has certain properties and we can use those properties to understand more about the behavior of the function and its applications. You'll find out more about this if you move on to calculus or real analysis or number theory. So, like a lot about mathematics, you may not understand the "why" at the moment, but in time you will as your mathematical maturity grows.
Great Question! Have Fun!(34 votes)
Hey, great video, i was just wondering if someone could help me understand what f'(x) meant, i was under the impression it was the inverse, but i know now that the inverse is f^-1(x)(16 votes)
f' is the "derivative" of f. You will encounter derivatives in a calculus course.(8 votes)
Can you just switch the x's and y's before you solve in terms of y, that way you keep solving in terms of x, and you already find the f^-1(x)(7 votes)
Yes you can. That's actually how I've always done it myself. In the case of y = -x + 4 that's the only step you need in order to get the inverse. However, it still works the same way for y = x^2 + 4.
In that case you can find the inverse of the function y = x^2 + 4 with the following steps:
x = y^2 + 4
x - 4 = y^2
x = ±sqr(y - 4) sqr = square root sign.
And it works for Sal's second example.
y = -2x -1
x = -2y -1 (switch variables)
x + 1 = -2y
-x -1 = 2y
y = -x/2 -1/2(12 votes)
- Why do you swap the y for the x? I would rather understand why than memorize.(7 votes)
Because usually functions are written as a function of "x", where "y" is the dependent variable.(You plug a value of "x" into the function and get a value of "y"). You could just solve for x and leave it as a function of the form f(y), but it would look weird. It's just convention.(8 votes)
whats the difference between inverse function and reciprocal functions ?(4 votes)
I think giving an example is the easiest way to explain this.
Given a function f(x)=5x+3
Find its reciprocal and its inverse.
answer 1:reciprocal of f(x)=1/f(x) = 1/(5x+3)
answer 2:inverse of f(x)=(x-3)/5
solution for number 2:1st stepsolve for f(x)
f(x)=5x+3 original function
f(x)-3=5x+3-3 subtracting fro both sides
f(x)-3=5x we get this then
(f(x)-3)/5=x dividing both sides by 52nd stepswap the sides and let f(x)=x and x=inverse of f(x) or just f(x)
inverse of f(x)=(x-3)/5(7 votes)
How can you rename a function with a different variable. Does that not change the function.(3 votes)
The variable is simply a place holder. If I use the variable "x" as a place holder for an input into a function, I could also call that variable "y" or "z" or "Marco" or "Linda". The name of a variable does not assign a value to that variable.(3 votes)
When it comes to solving the inverse function, one of the examples for f^-1(x). I thought the variable was supposed to be y, when it comes to solving for inverse functions. Why do I need to put x for answer?(2 votes)
We are just renaming it to something we are more familiar with. No changes were made to the inverse function, just a different name/variable.
When you graph f^-1(y), the input y will be on the x-axis, not the y-axis. So this might conflict with our brain processing. Our brain might be thinking of the y axis instead. So it's easier to rename it.(4 votes)
What is the point of renaming f^-1 (y) to f^-1(x)? is it purely for graphing purposes to see what it looks like when we take an inverse of a function?(3 votes)
It is the conventional notation for inverse functions, so it is a good idea to get used to seeing that way. In terms of the math it doesn't make any difference what you call the variable as long as you're consistent.(2 votes)
Video transcript
So we have f of x is equal to
negative x plus 4, and f of x is graphed right here on
our coordinate plane. Let's try to figure out
what the inverse of f is. And to figure out the inverse,
what I like to do is I set y, I set the variable y, equal to f
of x, or we could write that y is equal to negative x plus 4. Right now, we've solved
for y in terms of x. To solve for the inverse,
we do the opposite. We solve for x in terms of y. So let's subtract 4
from both sides. You get y minus 4 is
equal to negative x. And then to solve for x, we can
multiply both sides of this equation times negative 1. And so you get negative
y plus 4 is equal to x. Or just because we're always
used to writing the dependent variable on the left-hand side,
we could rewrite this as x is equal to negative y plus 4. Or another way to write it
is we could say that f inverse of y is equal
to negative y plus 4. So this is the inverse function
right here, and we've written it as a function of y, but we
can just rename the y as x so it's a function of x. So let's do that. So if we just rename this y as
x, we get f inverse of x is equal to the negative x plus 4. These two functions
are identical. Here, we just used y as the
independent variable, or as the input variable. Here we just use x, but they
are identical functions. Now, just out of interest,
let's graph the inverse function and see how it
might relate to this one right over here. So if you look at it,
it actually looks fairly identical. It's a negative x plus 4. It's the exact same function. So let's see, if we have-- the
y-intercept is 4, it's going to be the exact same thing. The function is
its own inverse. So if we were to graph it,
we would put it right on top of this. And so, there's a couple of
ways to think about it. In the first inverse function
video, I talked about how a function and their inverse--
they are the reflection over the line y equals x. So where's the line
y equals x here? Well, line y equals
x looks like this. And negative x plus 4 is
actually perpendicular to y is equal to x, so when you reflect
it, you're just kind of flipping it over, but it's
going to be the same line. It is its own reflection. Now, let's make sure that
that actually makes sense. When we're dealing with the
standard function right there, if you input a 2,
it gets mapped to a 2. If you input a 4, it
gets mapped to 0. What happens if you
go the other way? If you input a 2, well, 2
gets mapped to 2 either way, so that makes sense. For the regular function,
4 gets mapped to 0. For the inverse function,
0 gets mapped to 4. So it actually makes
complete sense. Let's think about
it another way. For the regular function-- let
me write it explicitly down. This might be obvious to
you, but just in case it's not, it might be helpful. Let's pick f of 5. f of 5 is equal to negative 1. Or we could say, the function f
maps us from 5 to negative 1. Now, what does f inverse do? What's f inverse of negative 1? f inverse of negative 1 is 5. Or we could say that f maps
us from negative 1 to 5. So once again, if you think
about kind of the sets, they're our domains and our ranges. So let's say that this is
the domain of f, this is the range of f. f will take us from
to negative 1. That's what the
function f does. And we see that f inverse takes
us back from negative 1 to 5. f inverse takes us back
from negative 1 to 5, just like it's supposed to do. Let's do one more of these. So here I have g of x is equal
to negative 2x minus 1. So just like the last problem,
I like to set y equal to this. So we say y is equal to g
of x, which is equal to negative 2x minus 1. Now we just solve for x. y plus 1 is equal
to negative 2x. Just added 1 to both sides. Now we can divide both sides of
this equation by negative 2, and so you get negative y over
2 minus 1/2 is equal to x, or we could write x is equal to
negative y over 2 minus 1/2, or we could write f inverse as a
function of y is equal to negative y over 2 minus 1/2, or
we can just rename y as x. And we could say that f inverse
of-- oh, let me careful here. That shouldn't be an f. The original function was
g , so let me be clear. That is g inverse of y is equal
to negative y over 2 minus 1/2 because we started with a
g of x, not an f of x. Make sure we get our
notation right. Or we could just rename the y
and say g inverse of x is equal to negative x over 2 minus 1/2. Now, let's graph it. Its y-intercept
is negative 1/2. It's right over there. And it has a slope
of negative 1/2. Let's see, if we start at
negative 1/2, if we move over to 1 in the positive direction,
it will go down half. If we move over 1 again, it
will go down half again. If we move back-- so
it'll go like that. So the line, I'll try my
best to draw it, will look something like that. It'll just keep going, so it'll
look something like that, and it'll keep going in
both directions. And now let's see if this
really is a reflection over y equals x. y equals x looks
like that, and you can see they are a reflection. If you reflect this guy, if you
reflect this blue line, it becomes this orange line. But the general idea, you
literally just-- a function is originally expressed, is
solved for y in terms of x. You just do some algebra. Solve for x in terms of y, and
that's essentially your inverse function as a function of y,
but then you can rename it as a function of x.