2.

7 - Combining Functions
Objectives

 Sums, Differences, Products, and Quotients

 Composition of Functions
 Applications of Composition
Sums, Differences, Products, and Quotients

The domain of is and the domain of is , then the domain of is the intersection of these
domains, that is, . Similarly, we can define the difference , the product , and the quotient
of the functions and . Their domains are A  B, but in the case of the quotient we must
remember not to divide by 0.
Example 1 – Combinations of Functions and Their Domains

Let and .
(a) Find the functions , , , and and their domains.
(b) Find , and .

Solution:
(a) The domain of is , and the domain of is . The intersection of the domains of and is .
Thus, we have

Domain {x | x  0 and x  2}

Domain {x | x  0 and x  2}
Note that in the
Domain {x | x  0 and x  2} domain of we
exclude because
Domain {x | x > 0 and x  2} .
Example 1 – Combinations of Functions and Their Domains

(b) Each of these values exist because is in the domain of each function.
Composition of Functions
Given any two functions and , we start with a number in the domain of and find its image .
If this number is in the domain of , we can then calculate the value of . The result is a new
function that is obtained by substituting into . It is called the composition (or composite) of
and and is denoted by (“ composed with ”).

The domain of is the set of all in the domain of

such that is in the domain of . In other words, is
defined whenever both and are defined.
Example 2 – Finding the Composition of Functions

Let and .

(a) Find the functions and and their domains.

(b) Find and .

Solution:
(a) We have

The domains of both and are

(b) We have And

.
Example 3 – Finding the Composition of Functions

It is possible to take the composition of three or more functions. For instance, the
composite function is found by first applying , then , and then as follows:

Example (3): Find if , , .

Solution:
Example 4 – Recognizing a Composition of Functions

Given find functions and such that .

Solution:

Since the formula for says to first add and then take the fourth root, we let

Then
Recitation problem
Recitation problem
Old Exam Problems
Old Exam Problems
Old Exam Problems
Old Exam Problems
Old Exam Problems
Old Exam Problems
 Homework (5)
Q1)

Q2)

Q3)

Q4)

Q5)

Q6)