1

Functions
Course Code: CSC 1204 Course Title: Discrete Mathematics

Dept. of Computer Science

Faculty of Science and Technology

Lecturer No: 5 Week No: 3 Semester: Fall 23-24

Lecturer: Sirajum Munria([email protected])
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Lecture Outline

2.3 Functions
• Definition of Function
• Domain, Codomain, Range, Image, Preimage,
• One-to-one function
• Onto function
• One-to-one correspondence
• Inverse Functions
• Compositions of Functions
• Floor function
• Ceiling Function
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Objectives and Outcomes

• Objectives: To understand what is function, domain, codomain,

range, image, preimage; to understand different types of
functions.
• Outcomes: Students are expected to be able to explain different
types of functions with examples, be able to determine whether a
function is one-to-one, onto, and/or one-to-one correspondence,
be able to determine whether a function is invertible and find out
the inverse of a function, be able to apply floor and ceiling
functions.
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Functions

• Definition 1: Let A and B be nonempty sets.

A function f from A to B is an assignment of exactly one
element of B to each element of A.
We write f(a) = b if b is the unique element of B
assigned by the function f to the element a of A.
• If f is a function from A to B, we write f: AB
• Note: Functions are sometimes called mappings or
transformations.
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Functions

• Functions are specified in many different ways.

• Sometimes we explicitly state the assignments, as in
Figure 1.
• Often we give a formula, such as f(x) = x + 1, to define a
function.
• Other times we use a computer program to specify a
function.
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Functions

• A function f: A B can also be defined in terms of a

relation from A to B. [we will cover Relation in final
term]
• A relation from A to B is just a subset of A X B.
• A relation from A to B that contains one, and only one,
ordered pair (a, b) for every element a A, defines a
function f from A to B. This function is defined by the
assignment f(a)=b, where ( a, b) is the unique ordered
pair in the relation that has a as its first element.
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FIGURE 1: Assignment of Grades in a

Discrete Mathematics Class
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Some Function Terminology

Definition 2: If f is a function from A to B, we say that A is

the domain of f and B is the codomain of f.

• If f(a)=b, a is the preimage of b and b is the image of a.

• Range of f is the set of all images of elements of A.

• Also, if f is a function from A to B, we say that f maps
from A to B.
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Some Function Terminology

• If f is a function from A to B, we write f: A B

 A is the domain of f
 B is the codomain of f
 If f(a)=b,
• a is called the preimage of b
• b is called the image of a
• Range of f : the set of all images of elements of A
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Range versus Codomain

• The range of a function might not be its whole

codomain.
• The codomain is the set that the function is declared to
map all domain values into.
• The range is the particular set of values in the
codomain the function actually maps elements of the
domain to.
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Range versus Codomain: Example

(See the FIGURE 1 in the previous slide)
• Suppose I declare to you that: “f is a function mapping
students in this class to the set of grades {A, B, C,D,F}”.
• At this point, you know f’s codomain is: {A, B, C,D,F}, and
it’s range is unknown!
• Suppose the grades turn out all As and Bs.
• Then the range of f is {A, B}”, but it’s codomain is still
{A, B, C,D,F}.
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Example 1

• What are the domain, codomain, and range of the function that assigns
grades to students of Discrete Math class as follows?
co
do
m a in
ain
m
do

range
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Solution of Example 1

 Solution:
• Let G be the function that assigns grade to a student of
Discrete Mathematics class.
• The domain of G is the set { Adams, Chou, Goodfriend,
Rodriguez, Stevens}
• The codomain of G is the set { A, B, C, D, F}
• The range of G is the set { A, B, C, F}
• Because each grade except D is assigned to some student
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Example 2
• Let R be the relation consisting of ordered pairs (Alex, 22), (Brenda,24),
(Carla,21), (Desire,22), (Eddie,24), and (Felicia,22), where each pair consists of
a graduate student and the age of this student. What is the function that this
relation determines?

• Solution: This relation defines the function f, where with f(Abdul)= 22,
f(Brenda)=24, f(Carla)=21, f(Desire)=22, f(Eddie)= 24, and f(Felicia)=22.
• Here, domain is the set { Abdul, Brenda, Carla, Desire, Eddie, Felicia }
• To define the function f, we need to specify a codomain. Here, we can take the
codomain to be the set of positive integers
• Range is the set {21,22,24}
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Functions

Definition 3: Let f1 and f2 be functions from A to R. Then

f1+ f2 and f1 f2 are also functions from A to R defined by
(f1+ f2)(x) = f1(x) + f2(x)
(f1 f2)(x) = f1(x) f2(x)
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Example 6

 Let f1 and f2 be functions from R to R such that f1(x)=x2 and

f2(x)=x – x2. What are the functions f1 + f2 and f1 f2 ?
 Solution:
(f1 + f2)(x) = f1(x) + f2(x) = x2 + (x –x2 ) = x

(f1f2)(x) = x2(x x2 ) = x3 – x4
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Functions
• Definition 4: Let f be a function from the set A to the set
B, and let S is a subset of A. The image of S under the
function f is the subset of B that consists of the images
of the elements of S.
• We denote the image of S by f(S).
f(S) = {t|sS(t=f(s))}
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Example 7
• Let A = {a, b, c, d, e} and B = {1, 2, 3, 4} with f(a) = 2,
f(b) = 1, f(c) = 4, f(d) = 1, f(e) = 1.
What is the image of the subset S = {b, c, d}?

• Solution:
• The image of the subset S = {b, c, d} is the set
f(S) = {1, 4}
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One-to-One Functions

 Definition 5: A function f is one-to-one or injective, iff f(a)

= f(b) implies that a = b for all a and b in the domain of f.
 A function f: A B is said to be one-to-one if all the
elements in the domain A have distinct images.
• We can express that f is one-to-one Using quantifiers as
ab ( f(a) = f(b)  a = b ), or equivalently,
ab ( a  b  f(a)  f(b) ), where the universe of
discourse is the domain of the function f
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Example 8

• Determine whether the function f from {a, b, c, d} to

{1, 2, 3, 4, 5} with f(a)=4, f(b)=5, f(c)= 1, and f(d)=3
is one-to-one.
• Solution: The function is one-to-one because every
element of domain has a distinct image.
• The function f is one-to-one because f takes on different
values at the four elements of its domain.
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FIGURE for Example 8 :

A One-to-One Function
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Example 9
Example 9: Determine whether the function f(x) = x2 from
the set of integers to the set of integers is one-to-one.

Solution: The function f(x) = x2 is not one-to-one because,

for instance, f(1)= f(–1) = 1, but 1 = – 1
(i.e. 1 and –1 have same image 1)
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Class Work

Determine whether the function f(x) = x2 from the set of

positive integers to the set of positive integers is one-
to-one.
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Example 10

• Determine whether the function f(x) = x + 1 from the

set of real numbers to the set of real numbers is one-
to-one.

• Solution: The function f(x) = x + 1 is a one-to-one

function. Since x + 1 = y + 1, when x = y
• For any real number x, there is a distinct image, just 1
bigger than x; so, the function is one-to-one.
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Example : One-to-one function

• Let A = {1, 2, 3} and B = {a, b, c, d}, and let f(1) = a,

f(2) = b, f(3) = d. Then f is injective, since the
different elements 1, 2, 3 in A are assigned to the
different elements a, c, d respectively in B
• Note: Every element of domain has a distinct image.
So, the function is one-to-one.
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Onto Function

• Definition 7: A function f from A to B is onto or surjective,

iff for every element bB there is an element aA with
f(a) = b.
• A function f: AB is said to be an onto function if each
element of B is the image of some element of A
• i.e., if B = range of f
• Note: A function is onto if every element of codomain has
preimage(s).
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Example 11

• Let f be the function from {a, b, c, d} to {1, 2, 3} defined

by f(a)=3, f(b)=2, f(c)=1, and f(d)=3. Is f an onto?
[see Figure on next slide]
• Solution: Because all three elements of the codomain
are images of elements in the domain, f is onto.
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FIGURE for Example 11:

An Onto Function
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Example 12

• Is the function f(x) = x2 from the set of integers to the

set of integers onto?
• Solution: The function f is not onto, because there is
no integer x with x2 = –1, for instance.

• Note: The elements of the codomain that are negative

integers ( 1,  2,  3 etc.) do not have any preimage.
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Class Work

Is the function f(x) = x2 from the set of positive integers to

the set of positive integers onto?
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One-to-one correspondence
(bijection )
• Definition 8: A function f is a one-to-one correspondence or a
bijection if it is both one-to-one and onto.

• Example: Let f be the function from A to B where A={1, 2, 3, 4}

and B = {a, b, c, d} with f(1)=d, f(2)=b, f(3)=c, and f(4)=a, then f is
bijective function.
- f is one-to-one since the every element of domain has a distinct image
- f is onto since every element of B is the image of some element in A.
 Hence f is a bijective function (or, one-to-one correspondence)
• Practice yourself: Example 14
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FIGURE: Examples of Different Types of

Correspondences
Books

1. Discrete Mathematics and its applications with

combinatorics and graph theory (7th edition) by Kenneth H.
Rosen [Indian Adaptation by KAMALA KRITHIVASAN],
published by McGraw-Hill
References

1. Discrete Mathematics, Richard Johnsonbaugh, Pearson education, Inc.

2. Discrete Mathematical Structures, Bernard Kolman, Robert C. Busby,
Sharon Ross, Prentice-Hall, Inc.
3. SCHAUM’S outlines Discrete Mathematics(2nd edition), by Seymour
Lipschutz, Marc Lipson