5 MT181 problems

Please write your solutions on A4 paper, scan them and submit them as a single pdf document
on moodle (deadlines and instructions can be found on moodle).

If you want to give feedback about this worksheet to the lecturer (e.g., what problems you
found difficult/useful/interesting/fun), please write it on the first page of your solutions.

This worksheet counts towards the final mark for this course.

—————-

1. Let α : Q → Q and β : Q → Q be defined by α(x) = 2x − 1 and β(x) = x2 .

Write down the image of x under each of the mappings:

αβ, βα, α2 , β 2 , β 3 .

[E.g., the image of x under the mapping α is 2x − 1.]

For which values of x ∈ Q is it true that αβ(x) = βα(x)?

2. (i) Find an example of surjective functions f : R → R and g : R → R such that

f + g is surjective.
(ii) Find an example of surjective functions f : R → R and g : R → R such that
f + g is not surjective.
(iii) Find an example of injective functions f : R → R and g : R → R such that
f + g is injective.
(iv) Find an example of injective functions f : R → R and g : R → R such that
f + g is not injective.

3. Let f : R → R be a mapping, let a, b ∈ R, a > 0, and let h : R → R be given by

h(x) = af (x) − b for all x ∈ R.
Show that
(a) if f is surjective then h is surjective;
(b) if f is injective then h is injective.

4. Let f : R → Z be defined by f (x) = bx/2c + 2. Find a mapping h : Z → R such

that f h = iZ . Show that f is not bijective. [This example shows that the mapping
g is needed in Lemma 5.7.]

5. Consider the function f : [2, ∞) → [−1, ∞) defined by f (x) = x2 − 4x + 3.

(a) Prove that f is injective.

(b) Prove that f is surjective.
(c) Why does f have an inverse? (Answer in a single sentence.)
(d) Find the inverse function f −1 .
 The problems below are supplementary exercises. A model solution will
be given, but your solution will not be marked.

6. Let f : X → Y and g : Y → Z be mappings, and assume that gf is injective. Show

that f must be injective and give an example to show that g need not be injective.

7. Find one example each of functions fi : Z → Z such that f1 is bijective, f2 is

injective but not surjective, f3 is surjective but not injective, and f4 is neither
injective nor surjective.

8. Let X and Y be sets and let f : X → Y and g : Y → X be mappings such that

gf (x) = x for all x ∈ X. Show that f is injective.

9. (a) The function f : R → R, f (x) = x2 − 2x + 5 is not surjective. Restrict its

codomain to make it surjective, i.e., find Y ⊆ R such that f : R → Y , f (x) =
x2 − 2x + 5 is surjective.
(b) The function f : R → R, f (x) = cos x is not injective. Restrict its domain to
make it injective, i.e., find X ⊆ R such that f : X → R, f (x) = cos x is injective.
(c) Can you always make a function injective by restricting its domain and surjective
by restricting its codomain?