Laura Phillips

Lesson 2.7

Inverse Functions
Objective: Students will understand what the inverse of a function is, how to determine if two

functions are inverses, how to find the inverse of a function, and how to graph a function with

its inverse.

Standards: Olathe Public School standards for Algebra 3

 F.IF.1 & F.IF.2: Understand the concept of a function and use function notation.

 F.BF.4: Build new functions from existing functions

References: Shannon Wolak

Prior Knowledge: Students should know what a function is, how to solve an equation for a

variable, what an ordered pair is and how to graph them, and how to perform function

composition

Key Terms: Inverse function, algebraically, function notation

Resources/Supplies: Notes (handout), pencil, ruler (provided), function composition notes

I. Warm Up:

For each pair of functions, find 𝑓(𝑔(𝑥)) and 𝑔(𝑓(𝑥))

𝑥
I. 𝑓(𝑥) = 4𝑥 𝑔(𝑥) = 4

II. 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑥 + 9 𝑔(𝑥) = 𝑥 − 9

III. 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑥 2 𝑔(𝑥) = √𝑥

3−𝑥
IV. 𝑓(𝑥) = 3 − 4𝑥 𝑔(𝑥) = 4

 While students are working on the warm up, I will walk around the class and check their

homework from the previous lesson. I will also hand back their 2.3/2.4 quiz and make an

announcement about retakes. Also remind them about the operations and composition quiz

Monday. I will then ask 4 students to do the warm up problems on the board.
  When discussing the warm up I will point out how all of the answers are x, which means

that each pair of functions are inverses of each other.

II. Lesson:

Inverse Functions are functions that undo the action of each other

Notation for an inverse function: 𝒇−𝟏 (𝒙)

How to determine if two functions are inverses:

f(x) and g(x) are inverses if both 𝑓(𝑔(𝑥)) = 𝒙 and 𝑔(𝑓(𝑥)) = 𝒙

“So, we need to use composition, what we did yesterday, both ways to check. Let’s do some

examples”

Example 1) Determine whether each pair of functions are inverses

𝑥+3 “First, we need to find f of g of x, so plug g(x) into f(x). Do that on your
a. 𝑓(𝑥) = 4 own.” Walk around class to check work “What did you get Student?” “x”
𝑔(𝑥) = 4𝑥 − 3 “Okay, so that works, now we need to go the other way, so plug f(x) into
g(x). Do that on your own.” Walk around class “What did you get Student”
“x” “Okay, so if both of the compositions equal x, so are these functions
inverses?” “yes” “Yeah, I agree, they are. Are there any questions so far?”

b. 𝑓(𝑥) = 2𝑥 − 2 “Now we’re going to do the same thing, so start with f of g of x, and plug
g(x) into f(x). Do that on your own” Walk around class “What did you get
1
𝑔(𝑥) = 2 𝑥 + 2 Student?” “x+2” “Okay, so in this case, we can stop here since we didn’t
get x, so we know these two functions are not inverses. We don’t even
have to check g of f of x. Does anyone have any questions about that?”

How to find the inverse of a function algebraically:

1. Replace 𝒇(𝒙) with 𝒚

2. Switch 𝒙 and 𝒚
3. Solve for 𝒚
4. Replace 𝒚 with 𝒇−𝟏 (𝒙)
Example 2) Find the inverse of each function
 1
a. 𝑓(𝑥) = 3 𝑥 − 2 “To find the inverse of a function, just follow the four steps! So first,
replace f(x) with y, then switch x and y. if you feel good about this, you
can do this in one step. Now solve for y, so in this case we want to add
2 to both sides. Now how do we finish it?” “Multiply by 3” “Yeah,
exactly, to ‘undo’ the one third, we need to multiply both sides by 3.
Now we solved for y, so what’s the last step?” “replace y with 𝒇−𝟏 (𝒙)”
“yep, that’s right, and now were done, we have the inverse function.”

“For this example, we can replace the y and switch it all at once. Now, to solve
𝑥+5 for y, what do we need to do first?” “multiply by 7” “yeah, exactly, we can’t
b. 𝑔(𝑥) = 7
subtract that 5 yet since its part of the fraction, so first we need to multiply
both sides by 7, and then we can subtract both sides by 5. Then replace the y
and we’re done!”

c. 𝑓(𝑥) = −𝑥 + 9 “Go ahead and try this one on your own” Walk around the class to see the
students work “Okay, Student, what did you get for the inverse?”
“𝒇−𝟏 (𝒙) = −𝒙 + 𝟗” “Does everyone agree with that?” “yes” “Good, so do
I. So notice the inverse is the same function. Sometimes that will happen.”

How to find the inverse of ordered pairs:

Switch the coordinates (x and y) of each pair

Example 3) Find the inverse of the set of ordered pairs

a. {(-1, -1), (0, 1), (1, 3), (2, 5)}
How to graph inverse functions:
“This part is pretty straight forward, to find the inverse of
an ordered pair, just switch the x and y. Go ahead and do
that on your own” Walk around the class “Student, what
did you get for the inverse of this set?” answer “great, I
agree!

1. Graph 𝑓(𝑥)

2. Make a table of ordered pairs

3. Switch the coordinates to find the inverse

4. Plot the points for 𝑓 −1 (𝑥)

 Example 4) Graph the function and its inverse

𝑓(𝑥) = −3𝑥 + 5
“So to graph a functions inverse, first we are going to graph the function. Go
ahead and do that on your own.” Walk around the class “Student, what is our y-
intercept?” “5” “Yep, and what is our slope?” “negative 3” “Okay, so now that we
have this line, we need to get some points from it. Student, do you see any points
we can use?” “(0, 5) and (1, 2)” “yeah, those work, so lets put them in our
function table. So to get the coordinates for the inverse function, we just need to
switch the x and y values. Student, what do we get after that?” “(5, 0) and (2, 1)”
“yeah, I agree with that, so we can plot those points to get the line of the inverse
function. Does anyone notice anything about our graph? Well if you put dotted
line at y=x, we can see that the function and its inverse are reflected over y=x.
that’s how you can check if you graphed it correctly.
If-Time:

Example 5) Find the inverse algebraically, then graph both functions

1
b. 𝑓(𝑥) = 3 𝑥 − 2

“The method we did on example 4 will always work for graphing the inverse.
Sometimes another method will work, and if it does, it will be in the
instructions to do it that way. So the first step in this method is to find the
inverse of the function algebraically, like we’ve been doing. Go ahead and do
that on your own.” Walk around the class “Student, what did you get for the
inverse?” “3x+6” “Good, so lets graph the original function. Student, what is
the y intercept on the original?” “negative 2” “Okay, and what is the slope?”
“one third” “Right, so we can graph that line. Student, what is the y
intercept on the inverse function?” “6” “And the slope?” “3” “Right, so that
is nice to graph. So for this one, you could have found the points and plotted
them, but this has an equation that is easy to graph. Any questions?”

III. Closure:

“Okay, Student, how do we check if two functions are inverses?” “do function composition
both ways.” “Exactly, you have to do them both ways to check. And Student, how do we find
the inverse of a function?” “replace f(x) with y, switch x and y, solve for y, replace y with
𝒇−𝟏 (𝒙).” “Good! And Student, how do we graph the inverse of a function using a method that
works every time?” “Graph the original function, get points from it, witch the x and y of the
points, then plot those points to get the invers.” “Great!” Pass out homework “Your homework
is due Monday, don’t forget to study for your quiz!”