M ATH 150: S EMINAR #2 Q UESTIONS

Content:

Section 1.3: New Functions from Old Functions

Section 1.4: Exponential Functions

Section 1.5: Inverse Functions and Logarithms
Questions:
2
1. Write sin2 (ex −x
) as a composition of (elementary) functions.
2. Let L be the line through the points (0, −2) and (2, 4) and f be the function given by f (x) = x2 − 2x + 2.
a) Determine the equation of the line L. Is (−1, −3) a point on the line? How about ( 73 , 5)?
√
b) Is (3, 2) a point on the graph of f ? How about ( 3 + 1, 4)?
c) Sketch the graph of f and the line L on the same set of coordinate axes.
d) Determine the intersection points of L and the graph of the function y = f (x).
3. Use rational exponents and the exponent laws to simplify the following expressions as much as possible:
√
9
(a) x3
√
3 9
x
(b) 2x3

4. Let A, B ⊆ R. Suppose that f has domain A and g has domain B.

(a) What is the domain of f + g?
(b) What is the domain of f g?
(c) What is the domain of f /g?
5. If y m = x, express y 3m in terms of x.
6. Starting with the graph of y = ex , find the equation of the graph that results from
(a) reflecting about the line y = 4.
(b) reflecting about the line x = 2.
7. Find the domain of the following functions.
(a) g(t) = sin(e−t )
√
(b) g(t) = 1 − 2t
8. Let f (x) = 4x , then, for any real number x and any real number h ̸= 0, show that
 h 
f (x + h) − f (x) 4 −1
= 4x
h h

9. If y = ln x, write ln(xex ) as a function in terms of y.

√
10. Let g(x) = ln(x + x2 + 1).
(a) Find the domain of g.
√
(b) Show that the function g(x) = ln(x + x2 + 1) is an odd function.
(c) Can you justify that the function is one-to-one?
(d) Find the inverse function of g.
11. Let f be a one-to-one function whose inverse is given by the formula

f −1 (x) = x5 + 3x3 + 2x + 1
M ATH 150: S EMINAR #2 Q UESTIONS

(a) Compute f −1 (1).

(b) Compute f (1).
(c) Compute the value of x0 such that f (x0 ) = 1.
(d) Compute the value of y0 such that f −1 (y0 ) = 1.
(e) Below is the graph of f −1 (x). Draw an approximate graph of f (x).

−2 2

−2

12. The graph of f is given.

(a) Why is f one-to-one?
(b) What are the domain and range of f −1 ?
(c) What is the value of f −1 (2)?
(d) Estimate the value of f −1 (0).