Week 3

Topic 3. Combinations of Functions (Stewart, pp. 36 – 45)

1 Operations between functions

Operations between two functions f and g are defined as follows, for any x ∈ Df ∩ Dg ,

Sum: (f + g)(x) = f (x) + g(x)

Difference: (f − g)(x) = f (x) − g(x)
Product: (f · g)(x) = f (x) · g(x)
 
f f (x)
Quotent: (x) = , g(x) ̸= 0
g g(x)

Notice that


Df +g = Df −g = Df ·g = Df ∩ Dg and Df /g = Df ∩ Dg \ {x ∈ Dg | g(x) = 0}

√ √
Example 1. Determine f + g and Df +g , where f (x) = x and g(x) = 2−x

Solution: By definition
√ √
(f + g)(x) = f (x) + g(x) = x+ 2−x

Notice that Df = [0, ∞) and Dg = (−∞, 2]. Thus

Df +g = Df ∩ Dg = [0, ∞) ∩ (−∞, 2] = [0, 2]

Example 2. Determine f /g en Df /g , where f (x) = x2 and g(x) = x − 1

Solution: By definition

x2
 
f f (x)
(x) = =
g g(x) x−1

Notice that Df = R = Dg , but g(x) = 0 for x = 1. Thus

Df /g = Df ∩ Dg ) \ {x ∈ Dg | g(x) = 0} = R \ {1} = (−∞, 1) ∪ (1, ∞)

x √
Example 3. Determine f · g and Df ·g , where f (x) = √ and g(x) = x
x2−1

Solution: By definition
√
x √ x x
(f · g)(x) = √ · x= √
x2 − 1 x2 − 1

1
Notice that

Df = {x ∈ R | x2 − 1 > 0} = (−∞, −1) ∪ (1, ∞) and Dg = [0, ∞)

Thus


Df ·g = (−∞, −1) ∪ (1, ∞) ∩ [0, ∞) = (1, ∞)

2 Composition of functions
Definition 4. The composite function f ◦ g of f with g is defined as


(f ◦ g)(x) = f g(x) , where x ∈ Dg en g(x) ∈ Df

and its domain is Df ◦g = {x ∈ Dg | g(x) ∈ Df }

Stated differently, (f ◦ g)(x) means that we first apply g on x, then apply f on the result.
Example 5. Determine (f ◦ g)(−1), (g ◦ f )(−1), as well as (f ◦ g)(x) and (g ◦ f )(x), where

f (x) = x2 and g(x) = x − 3

Solution: By definition

(f ◦ g)(−1) = f g(−1) = f (−1 − 3) = f (−4) = (−4)2 = 16

(g ◦ f )(−1) = g f (−1) = g (−1)2 = g(1) = 1 − 3 = −2

Sketch (for intuition):

f ◦g g◦f

−1 g −4 f
16 −1 f
1 g −2

For any x ∈ R, we have

(f ◦ g)(x) = f g(x) = f (x − 3) = (x − 3)2

(g ◦ f )(x)g f (x) = g x2 = x2 − 3

Notice that f ◦ g is not always equal to g ◦ f !

√ √
Example 6. If f (x) = x and g(x) = 2 − x determine each of the following composite
functions as well as their domains:
(a) f ◦ g (b) g ◦ f (c) f ◦ f (d) g ◦ g

Solution:

p p√
(a) f g(x) = g(x) = 2−x
√
Domain: Notice that 2 − x ≥ 0. Thus Df ◦g = Dg = (−∞, 2]

2

p p √
(b) g f (x) = 2 − f (x) = 2 − x
Domain: We must have that
√ √
2− x≥0 ⇐⇒ 2≥ x ⇐⇒ 4≥x and x ≥ 0

Consequently, Dg◦f = [0, 4]

p p√
(c) f f (x) = f (x) = x
Domain: Df ◦f = [0, ∞)

p p √
(d) g g(x) = 2 − g(x) = 2 − 2 − x
Domain:
√ √
2− 2−x≥0 ⇐⇒ 2≥ 2−x

Consequently,

4≥2−x and 2−x≥0

⇐⇒ x ≥ −2 and 2≥x

Thus, Dg◦g = [−2, ∞) ∩ (−∞, 2] = [−2, 2]

It is possible to compose more than two functions. For f , g and h, we define

f ◦ g ◦ h = f ◦ (g ◦ h) = (f ◦ g) ◦ h

Consequently,



(f ◦ g ◦ h)(x) = f g h(x)

Example 7. Let
x
f (x) = , g(x) = x10 , h(x) = x + 3
x+1
and determine f ◦ g ◦ h.

Solution: We have
(x + 3)10
= f g(x + 3) = f (x + 3)10 =





f g h(x)
(x + 3)10 + 1

Example 8. Find functions f , g and h such that F = f ◦ g ◦ h, where

√  p 1
(a) F (x) = cos 1 + x2 (b) F (x) = cos (1 + x2 ) (c) F (x) =
|1 + sin x|

Solution: Possible (meaningful) solutions:

3
 √
(a) f (x) = cos x, g(x) = x, h(x) = 1 + x2
√
(b) f (x) = x, g(x) = cos x, h(x) = 1 + x2
(c) f (x) = x1 , g(x) = |x|, h(x) = 1 + sin x

Example 9. Give a function g such that

x
(f ◦ g)(x) = tan2 x where f (x) =
1−x

Solution: We want a g such that

g(x)
= tan2 x


f g(x) =
1 − g(x)

We now solve for g(x):

g(x)
= tan2 x
1 − g(x)
g(x) = 1 − g(x) tan2 x


⇐⇒
1 + tan2 x g(x) = tan2 x


⇐⇒
tan2 x tan2 x
⇐⇒ g(x) = 2 =
1 + tan x sec2 x
= tan (x) · cos (x) = sin2 x
2 2

Example 10. Find a function g such that

π
(g ◦ f )(x) = 1 + cos x where f (x) = x − 2

Solution: We want a g such that

 π
g x− = 1 + cos x
2
Set a = x − π2 . Then x = a + π2 . Thus
 π π 
g(a) = 1 + cos a + = 1 + cos − (−a) = 1 + sin(−a) = 1 − sin a
2 2
And thus,

g(x) = 1 − sin x

Exercise 11. For two piecewise defined functions, for example

( (√
x2 − 4, x ≥ 1 x + 4, x≥0
f (x) = and g(x) =
x + 1, x < 1 −x2 , x<0

how would we determine f ◦ g and g ◦ f , as well as f + g and f · g?