Discrete Mathematics

Alejanra Torres Manotas Functions Problems

Assignment V
Instrucciones importantes
Estas instrucciones serán en español para su total comprensión.

No olviden el mı́nimo de puntos que debe tener el ancabezado de sus tareas:

Nombre del taller, nombre del estudiante, código y grupo. Por cada ı́tem que
falte restará en su nota 2 puntos.

Dado que es posible que las actividades académicas se realicen de forma virtual,
les recuerdo que las tareas que se entreguen por correo electrónico solo seran
aceptadas con hora lı́mite del inicio de la clase y en formato PDF. Ası́ que tengan
mucho cuidado en el caso que escaneen sus tareas, verifiquen antes de enviarlas
que sea claro el documento y pueda abrirse desde algún otro dispositivo diferente
a sus computadores o celulares.

First Part:
1. Let A = {a, b, c} and B = {1, 2, 3}. Which of the following subsets of A × B are
functions A −→ B?

a. {(b, 1), (c, 2), (a, 3)}. c. {(a, 1), (b, 3)}.
b. {(c, 1), (b, 1), (a, 2)}. d. {(c, 1), (a, 2), (b, 3), (c, 2)}.

2. Which of the following formulas define functions R −→ R? Then find the domain and
codomain (or range) of each function that is well defined.
x2 +3
a. p(x) = x+5
for all x ∈ R. c. q(x) = ln(x4 + 1) for all x ∈ R.
 x  3
 e if x ≥ 0,  x − 2 if x ≥ 1,
b. g(x) = d. f (x) =
cos (x) if x ≤ 0. |x| if x ≤ 1.
 

3. For each of the following functions f : R −→ R and each set T ⊆ R, find f (T ), f −1 (T ),

f (f −1 (T )) and f −1 (f (T )).
a. Let f : R −→ R be defined by f (x) = (x + 1)2 for all x ∈ R, and let T1 = [−1, 1]
and T2 = [−5, 2].
b. Let f : R −→ R be defined by f (x) = bxc for all x ∈ R, where bxc is the greatest
integer less than or equal to x (the floor function), and let T = [0, 2] ∪ (5, 7).
4. For the purpose of error detection, numeric codes (such as ID numbers) often include a
final ‘check digit’. Suppose a numeric code consists of a string of 9 digits x1 , x2 , ..., x9 ,
followed by a final check digit x10 defined to be the rightmost decimal digit of x1 +
2x2 + 3x3 + ... + 9x9 .

1 of 5
 Discrete Mathematics
Alejanra Torres Manotas Functions Problems

a. Verify that 2516238674 is a valid code.

a Let X be the set of all strings of 9 digits, let Y be the set of all digits, and let
f : X −→ Y be the function that assigns the correct check digit to each string,
for example f (251623867) = 4.
i. State, giving reasons, whether f has for all elements on X a unique element
on Y , i.e., if you take x, y ∈ X, be different elements, then f (x), f (y) ∈ Y
will be different elements too.
ii. State, giving reasons, whether for all check digits there is almost a numeric
code on X.
iii. If an error is made in keying in a code, will the check digit always detect it?

5. Let f, g : R −→ R be defined by
 
 1 − 2x if x ≥ 0,  3x if x ≥ 0,
f (x) = g(x) =
|x| if x < 0. x − 1 if x < 0.
 

Find f ◦ g and g ◦ f .

Second Part:
1. Let A and B be sets, let P, Q ⊂ A be subsets and let f : A −→ B be a function.

a. Prove that f (P ) − f (Q) ⊂ f (P − Q).

b. Is it necessarily the case that f (P − Q) ⊂ f (P ) − f (Q)? Give a proof or a
counterexample.

2 of 5
 Discrete Mathematics
Alejanra Torres Manotas Functions Problems

Assignment VI

Instrucciones importantes
Estas instrucciones serán en español para su total comprensión.

No olviden el mı́nimo de puntos que debe tener el ancabezado de sus tareas:

Nombre del taller, nombre del estudiante, código y grupo. Por cada ı́tem que
falte restará en su nota 2 puntos.

Dado que es posible que las actividades académicas se realicen de forma virtual,
les recuerdo que las tareas que se entreguen por correo electrónico solo seran
aceptadas con hora lı́mite del inicio de la clase y en formato PDF. Ası́ que tengan
mucho cuidado en el caso que escaneen sus tareas, verifiquen antes de enviarlas
que sea claro el documento y pueda abrirse desde algún otro dispositivo diferente
a sus computadores o celulares.

First Part:
1. Find the inverse function of each of the following functions, or explain why no inverse
exists:

a. f : R −→ R, f (x) = 3x + 2
b. abs : R −→ R, abs(x) = |x|¸

 n + 1 if n is odd,
c. g : N −→ N, g(n) =
n − 1 if n is aven.


d. h : S −→ S , h(s) = the string obtained by moving the last character to the

beginning of the string, for example h(‘abcd0 ) = ‘dabc0 (where S is the set of
finite non-null character strings)

2. Let X be the set of all names of students in a database maintained by a university.

Assume that no two students have the same name. Let Y be the set of ID numbers of
the students. The functions f and g are defined as follows:

f : X −→ Y, f (x) = ID number of student with name x ,

g : Y −→ N, g(y) = age (in years) of student with ID number
.

a. Describe the functions g ◦ f and f –1 .

b. Explain why g –1 does not exist.

3 of 5
 Discrete Mathematics
Alejanra Torres Manotas Functions Problems

3. Let X = {1, 2, 3, ..., 20}, and let Y be the set of non-null strings of up to 20 characters.
Let f be defined as follows: f : X −→ Y , f (x) = English word for x (in lower-case letters)
For example, f (1) = ‘one0 .

a. State, giving reasons, whether:

i. f is one-to-one;
ii. f is onto;
iii. f –1 exists.
b. If g : Y −→ X, g(s) = number of characters in s, evaluate the following expres-
sions, where possible:
i. (g ◦ f )(7)
ii. (g ◦ f )(‘seven0 )
iii. (f ◦ g)(7)
iv. (f ◦ g)(‘seven0 )

4. In each of the four cases below, we are given a function f such that f (x) = 3x + 5 for
all x in the domain. Is each function injective, surjective, both or neither?

a. f : Z −→ Z, b. f : Q −→ R,

5. Let f : R −→ (−1, 1) be defined by

x2

 1 + x2 if x ≥ 0,



f (x) =
2
 −x


if x < 0.

1 + x2
Show if f is bijective, i.e., is the function one to one and onto?

Second Part:
1. Let B be a set, let A1 , ..., Ak be sets for some k ∈ N, let Ui ⊂ Ai be a subset for all
i ∈ {1, ..., k} and let f : B −→ A1 × .... × Ak be a function. Prove that

k
\
f −1
(U1 × ... × Uk ) = (f )−1 (Ui )
i=1

where the fi are the coordinate functions of f .

2. From Proof and Fundamentals: A first course in abstract mathematics read the theorem
445 (page 158) and construct your own proof by filling in all necessary missing steps.

3. Let A, B, C and D be sets, and let f : A −→ B , g : B −→ C and h : C −→ D be

functions. Prove that (h ◦ g) ◦ f = h ◦ (g ◦ f ).

4 of 5
 Discrete Mathematics
Alejanra Torres Manotas Functions Problems

4. Prove that a function cannot have more than one inverse. (Hint: Let f : A −→ B
be a function, and assume f has two inverses, g1 and g2 . Deduce a contradiction by
evaluating g1 ◦ f ◦ g2 in two different ways.)

5 of 5