Function (mathematics)

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In mathematics, a function from a set X to a set Y assigns to each element of X exactly one element of
Y.[1] The set X is called the domain of the function[2] and the set Y is called the codomain of the
function.[3]

Functions were originally the idealization of how a varying quantity depends on another quantity. For
example, the position of a planet is a function of time. Historically, the concept was elaborated with the
infinitesimal calculus at the end of the 17th century, and, until the 19th century, the functions that were
considered were differentiable (that is, they had a high degree of regularity). The concept of a function
was formalized at the end of the 19th century in terms of set theory, and this greatly increased the
possible applications of the concept.

A function is often denoted by a letter such as f, g or h. The value of a function f at an element x of its
domain (that is, the element of the codomain that is associated with x) is denoted by f(x); for example,
the value of f at x = 4 is denoted by f(4). Commonly, a specific function is defined by means of an
expression depending on x, such as in this case, some computation, called function
evaluation, may be needed for deducing the value of the function at a particular value; for example, if
then

Given its domain and its codomain, a function is uniquely represented by the set of all pairs (x, f (x)),
called the graph of the function, a popular means of illustrating the function.[note 1][4] When the domain
and the codomain are sets of real numbers, each such pair may be thought of as the Cartesian
coordinates of a point in the plane.

Functions are widely used in science, engineering, and in most fields of mathematics. It has been said
that functions are "the central objects of investigation" in most fields of mathematics.[5]

The concept of a function has evolved significantly over centuries, from its informal origins in ancient
mathematics to its formalization in the 19th century. See History of the function concept for details.

Definition
A function f from a set X to a set Y is an assignment of one element of Y to each element of X. The set X
is called the domain of the function and the set Y is called the codomain of the function.

If the element y in Y is assigned to x in X by the function f, one says that f maps x to y, and this is
commonly written In this notation, x is the argument or variable of the function.

A specific element x of X is a value of the variable, and the corresponding element of Y is the value of
the function at x, or the image of x under the function. The image of a function, sometimes called its
range, is the set of the images of all elements in the domain.[6][7][8][9]

A function f, its domain X, and its codomain Y are often specified by the notation One may
write instead of , where the symbol (read 'maps to') is used to specify where a
particular element x in the domain is mapped to by f. This allows the definition of a function without
naming. For example, the square function is the function
The domain and codomain are not always explicitly given when
a function is defined. In particular, it is common that one might
only know, without some (possibly difficult) computation, that
the domain of a specific function is contained in a larger set. For
example, if is a real function, the determination of
the domain of the function requires knowing the
zeros of f. This is one of the reasons for which, in mathematical
analysis, "a function from X to Y " may refer to a function having
a proper subset of X as a domain.[note 2] For example, a
"function from the reals to the reals" may refer to a real-valued
function of a real variable whose domain is a proper subset of
the real numbers, typically a subset that contains a non-empty
open interval. Such a function is then called a partial function. Schematic depiction of a function
described metaphorically as a "machine"
A function f on a set S means a function from the domain S, or "black box" that for each input yields a
without specifying a codomain. However, some authors use it as corresponding output
shorthand for saying that the function is f : S → S.

Formal definition
The above definition of a function is essentially that of the
founders of calculus, Leibniz, Newton and Euler. However, it
cannot be formalized, since there is no mathematical definition
of an "assignment". It is only at the end of the 19th century that
the first formal definition of a function could be provided, in
terms of set theory. This set-theoretic definition is based on the
fact that a function establishes a relation between the elements
of the domain and some (possibly all) elements of the codomain. The red curve is the graph of a function,
because any vertical line has exactly one
Mathematically, a binary relation between two sets X and Y is a
crossing point with the curve.
subset of the set of all ordered pairs such that and
The set of all these pairs is called the Cartesian product
of X and Y and denoted Thus, the above definition may
be formalized as follows.

A function with domain X and codomain Y is a binary relation R

between X and Y that satisfies the two following conditions:[10]

For every in there exists in such that

If and then
This definition may be rewritten more formally, without
referring explicitly to the concept of a relation, but using more
notation (including set-builder notation):

A function is formed by three sets, the domain the codomain Diagram of a function
and the graph that satisfy the three following conditions.
Partial functions
Partial functions are defined similarly to ordinary functions,
with the "total" condition removed. That is, a partial function
from X to Y is a binary relation R between X and Y such that, for
every there is at most one y in Y such that

Using functional notation, this means that, given either

is in Y, or it is undefined.

The set of the elements of X such that is defined and

belongs to Y is called the domain of definition of the function. A
partial function from X to Y is thus an ordinary function that
has as its domain a subset of X called the domain of definition of Diagram of a relation that is not a
the function. If the domain of definition equals X, one often says function. One reason is that 2 is the first
that the partial function is a total function. element in more than one ordered pair.
Another reason is that neither 3 nor 4 are
In several areas of mathematics, the term "function" refers to the first element (input) of any ordered
partial functions rather than to ordinary (total) functions. This pair.
is typically the case when functions may be specified in a way
that makes difficult or even impossible to determine their
domain.

In calculus, a real-valued function of a real variable or real function is a partial function from the set
of the real numbers to itself. Given a real function its multiplicative inverse
is also a real function. The determination of the domain of definition of a multiplicative inverse of a
(partial) function amounts to compute the zeros of the function, the values where the function is defined
but not its multiplicative inverse.

Similarly, a function of a complex variable is generally a partial function whose domain of definition is a
subset of the complex numbers . The difficulty of determining the domain of definition of a complex
function is illustrated by the multiplicative inverse of the Riemann zeta function: the determination of
the domain of definition of the function is more or less equivalent to the proof or disproof
of one of the major open problems in mathematics, the Riemann hypothesis.

In computability theory, a general recursive function is a partial function from the integers to the
integers whose values can be computed by an algorithm (roughly speaking). The domain of definition of
such a function is the set of inputs for which the algorithm does not run forever. A fundamental theorem
of computability theory is that there cannot exist an algorithm that takes an arbitrary general recursive
function as input and tests whether 0 belongs to its domain of definition (see Halting problem).

Multivariate functions
A multivariate function, multivariable function, or function of several variables is a function
that depends on several arguments. Such functions are commonly encountered. For example, the
position of a car on a road is a function of the time travelled and its average speed.

Formally, a function of n variables is a function whose domain is a set of n-tuples.[note 3] For example,
multiplication of integers is a function of two variables, or bivariate function, whose domain is the set
of all ordered pairs (2-tuples) of integers, and whose codomain is the set of integers. The same is true for
every binary operation. The graph of a bivariate surface over a two-dimensional real domain may be
interpreted as defining a parametric surface, as used in, e.g., bivariate interpolation.
Commonly, an n-tuple is denoted enclosed between
parentheses, such as in When using functional
notation, one usually omits the parentheses surrounding tuples,
writing instead of

Given n sets the set of all n-tuples

such that is called the Cartesian product
of and denoted

Therefore, a multivariate function is a function that has a

Cartesian product or a proper subset of a Cartesian product as a
domain.

A binary operation is a typical example of

a bivariate function which assigns to each
pair the result .
where the domain U has the form

If all the are equal to the set of the real numbers or to the set of the complex numbers, one talks
respectively of a function of several real variables or of a function of several complex variables.

Notation
There are various standard ways for denoting functions. The most commonly used notation is functional
notation, which is the first notation described below.

Functional notation
The functional notation requires that a name is given to the function, which, in the case of a unspecified
function is often the letter f. Then, the application of the function to an argument is denoted by its name
followed by its argument (or, in the case of a multivariate functions, its arguments) enclosed between
parentheses, such as in

The argument between the parentheses may be a variable, often x, that represents an arbitrary element
of the domain of the function, a specific element of the domain (3 in the above example), or an
expression that can be evaluated to an element of the domain ( in the above example). The use of
a unspecified variable between parentheses is useful for defining a function explicitly such as in "let
".

When the symbol denoting the function consists of several characters and no ambiguity may arise, the
parentheses of functional notation might be omitted. For example, it is common to write sin x instead of
sin(x).

Functional notation was first used by Leonhard Euler in 1734.[11] Some widely used functions are
represented by a symbol consisting of several letters (usually two or three, generally an abbreviation of
their name). In this case, a roman type is customarily used instead, such as "sin" for the sine function, in
contrast to italic font for single-letter symbols.
The functional notation is often used colloquially for referring to a function and simultaneously naming
its argument, such as in "let be a function". This is an abuse of notation that is useful for a simpler
formulation.

Arrow notation
Arrow notation defines the rule of a function inline, without requiring a name to be given to the
function. It uses the ↦ arrow symbol, pronounced "maps to". For example, is the function
which takes a real number as input and outputs that number plus 1. Again, a domain and codomain of
is implied.

The domain and codomain can also be explicitly stated, for example:

This defines a function sqr from the integers to the integers that returns the square of its input.

As a common application of the arrow notation, suppose is a

function in two variables, and we want to refer to a partially applied function produced by fixing
the second argument to the value t0 without introducing a new function name. The map in question
could be denoted using the arrow notation. The expression (read: "the map
taking x to f of x comma t nought") represents this new function with just one argument, whereas the
expression f(x0, t0) refers to the value of the function f at the point (x0, t0).

Index notation
Index notation may be used instead of functional notation. That is, instead of writing f (x), one writes

This is typically the case for functions whose domain is the set of the natural numbers. Such a function
is called a sequence, and, in this case the element is called the nth element of the sequence.

The index notation can also be used for distinguishing some variables called parameters from the "true
variables". In fact, parameters are specific variables that are considered as being fixed during the study
of a problem. For example, the map (see above) would be denoted using index notation,
if we define the collection of maps by the formula for all .

Dot notation
In the notation the symbol x does not represent any value; it is simply a placeholder,
meaning that, if x is replaced by any value on the left of the arrow, it should be replaced by the same
value on the right of the arrow. Therefore, x may be replaced by any symbol, often an interpunct " ⋅ ".
This may be useful for distinguishing the function f (⋅) from its value f (x) at x.

For example, may stand for the function , and may stand for a function
defined by an integral with variable upper bound: .
Specialized notations
There are other, specialized notations for functions in sub-disciplines of mathematics. For example, in
linear algebra and functional analysis, linear forms and the vectors they act upon are denoted using a
dual pair to show the underlying duality. This is similar to the use of bra–ket notation in quantum
mechanics. In logic and the theory of computation, the function notation of lambda calculus is used to
explicitly express the basic notions of function abstraction and application. In category theory and
homological algebra, networks of functions are described in terms of how they and their compositions
commute with each other using commutative diagrams that extend and generalize the arrow notation
for functions described above.

Functions of more than one variable

In some cases the argument of a function may be an ordered pair of elements taken from some set or
sets. For example, a function f can be defined as mapping any pair of real numbers to the sum of
their squares, . Such a function is commonly written as and referred to as "a
function of two variables". Likewise one can have a function of three or more variables, with notations
such as , .

Other terms
A function may also be called a map or a Term Distinction from "function"
mapping, but some authors make a distinction
None; the terms are synonymous.[12]
between the term "map" and "function". For
example, the term "map" is often reserved for a A map can have any set as its
codomain, while, in some contexts,
"function" with some sort of special structure (e.g. typically in older books, the codomain of
maps of manifolds). In particular map may be a function is specifically the set of real
Map/Mapping or complex numbers.[13]
used in place of homomorphism for the sake of
succinctness (e.g., linear map or map from G to H Alternatively, a map is associated with a
special structure (e.g. by explicitly
instead of group homomorphism from G to H). specifying a structured codomain in its
Some authors[14] reserve the word mapping for the definition). For example, a linear
case where the structure of the codomain belongs map.[14]
explicitly to the definition of the function. A function between two structures of the
same type that preserves the operations
Homomorphism of the structure (e.g. a group
Some authors, such as Serge Lang,[13] use
homomorphism).[15]
"function" only to refer to maps for which the
codomain is a subset of the real or complex A generalisation of homomorphisms to
any category, even when the objects of
numbers, and use the term mapping for more the category are not sets (for example,
general functions. a group defines a category with only
Morphism one object, which has the elements of
the group as morphisms; see Category
In the theory of dynamical systems, a map denotes (mathematics) § Examples for this
an evolution function used to create discrete example and other similar ones).[16]
dynamical systems. See also Poincaré map.

Whichever definition of map is used, related terms like domain, codomain, injective, continuous have
the same meaning as for a function.
Specifying a function
Given a function , by definition, to each element of the domain of the function , there is a unique
element associated to it, the value of at . There are several ways to specify or describe how is
related to , both explicitly and implicitly. Sometimes, a theorem or an axiom asserts the existence of
a function having some properties, without describing it more precisely. Often, the specification or
description is referred to as the definition of the function .

By listing function values

On a finite set a function may be defined by listing the elements of the codomain that are associated to
the elements of the domain. For example, if , then one can define a function by

By a formula
Functions are often defined by an expression that describes a combination of arithmetic operations and
previously defined functions; such a formula allows computing the value of the function from the value
of any element of the domain. For example, in the above example, can be defined by the formula
, for .

When a function is defined this way, the determination of its domain is sometimes difficult. If the
formula that defines the function contains divisions, the values of the variable for which a denominator
is zero must be excluded from the domain; thus, for a complicated function, the determination of the
domain passes through the computation of the zeros of auxiliary functions. Similarly, if square roots
occur in the definition of a function from to the domain is included in the set of the values of the
variable for which the arguments of the square roots are nonnegative.

For example, defines a function whose domain is because is

always positive if x is a real number. On the other hand, defines a function from the
reals to the reals whose domain is reduced to the interval [−1, 1]. (In old texts, such a domain was
called the domain of definition of the function.)

Functions can be classified by the nature of formulas that define them:

A quadratic function is a function that may be written where a, b, c are

constants.
More generally, a polynomial function is a function that can be defined by a formula involving only
additions, subtractions, multiplications, and exponentiation to nonnegative integer powers. For
example, and are polynomial functions of
.

A rational function is the same, with divisions also allowed, such as and

An algebraic function is the same, with nth roots and roots of polynomials also allowed.
An elementary function[note 4] is the same, with logarithms and exponential functions allowed.
Inverse and implicit functions
A function with domain X and codomain Y, is bijective, if for every y in Y, there is one and
only one element x in X such that y = f(x). In this case, the inverse function of f is the function
that maps to the element such that y = f(x). For example, the natural
logarithm is a bijective function from the positive real numbers to the real numbers. It thus has an
inverse, called the exponential function, that maps the real numbers onto the positive numbers.

If a function is not bijective, it may occur that one can select subsets and
such that the restriction of f to E is a bijection from E to F, and has thus an inverse. The inverse
trigonometric functions are defined this way. For example, the cosine function induces, by restriction, a
bijection from the interval [0, π] onto the interval [−1, 1], and its inverse function, called arccosine,
maps [−1, 1] onto [0, π]. The other inverse trigonometric functions are defined similarly.

More generally, given a binary relation R between two sets X and Y, let E be a subset of X such that, for
every there is some such that x R y. If one has a criterion allowing selecting such a y for
every this defines a function called an implicit function, because it is implicitly
defined by the relation R.

For example, the equation of the unit circle defines a relation on real numbers. If
−1 < x < 1 there are two possible values of y, one positive and one negative. For x = ± 1, these two
values become both equal to 0. Otherwise, there is no possible value of y. This means that the equation
defines two implicit functions with domain [−1, 1] and respective codomains [0, +∞) and (−∞, 0].

In this example, the equation can be solved in y, giving but, in more complicated
examples, this is impossible. For example, the relation defines y as an implicit function
of x, called the Bring radical, which has as domain and range. The Bring radical cannot be expressed
in terms of the four arithmetic operations and nth roots.

The implicit function theorem provides mild differentiability conditions for existence and uniqueness of
an implicit function in the neighborhood of a point.

Using differential calculus

Many functions can be defined as the antiderivative of another function. This is the case of the natural
logarithm, which is the antiderivative of 1/x that is 0 for x = 1. Another common example is the error
function.

More generally, many functions, including most special functions, can be defined as solutions of
differential equations. The simplest example is probably the exponential function, which can be defined
as the unique function that is equal to its derivative and takes the value 1 for x = 0.

Power series can be used to define functions on the domain in which they converge. For example, the
exponential function is given by . However, as the coefficients of a series are quite
arbitrary, a function that is the sum of a convergent series is generally defined otherwise, and the
sequence of the coefficients is the result of some computation based on another definition. Then, the
power series can be used to enlarge the domain of the function. Typically, if a function for a real variable
is the sum of its Taylor series in some interval, this power series allows immediately enlarging the
domain to a subset of the complex numbers, the disc of convergence of the series. Then analytic
continuation allows enlarging further the domain for including almost the whole complex plane. This
process is the method that is generally used for defining the logarithm, the exponential and the
trigonometric functions of a complex number.
By recurrence
Functions whose domain are the nonnegative integers, known as sequences, are sometimes defined by
recurrence relations.

The factorial function on the nonnegative integers ( ) is a basic example, as it can be defined by
the recurrence relation

and the initial condition

Representing a function
A graph is commonly used to give an intuitive picture of a function. As an example of how a graph helps
to understand a function, it is easy to see from its graph whether a function is increasing or decreasing.
Some functions may also be represented by bar charts.

Graphs and plots

Given a function its graph is, formally, the set

In the frequent case where X and Y are subsets of the real

numbers (or may be identified with such subsets, e.g. intervals),
an element may be identified with a point having
coordinates x, y in a 2-dimensional coordinate system, e.g. the
Cartesian plane. Parts of this may create a plot that represents The function mapping each year to its US
(parts of) the function. The use of plots is so ubiquitous that motor vehicle death count, shown as a
they too are called the graph of the function. Graphic line chart
representations of functions are also possible in other
coordinate systems. For example, the graph of the square
function

consisting of all points with coordinates for

yields, when depicted in Cartesian coordinates, the well known
parabola. If the same quadratic function with the same The same function, shown as a bar chart
formal graph, consisting of pairs of numbers, is plotted instead
in polar coordinates the plot obtained is
Fermat's spiral.

Tables
A function can be represented as a table of values. If the domain of a function is finite, then the function
can be completely specified in this way. For example, the multiplication function
defined as can be represented by the familiar multiplication table
 y
1 2 3 4 5
x
1 1 2 3 4 5

2 2 4 6 8 10
3 3 6 9 12 15

4 4 8 12 16 20

5 5 10 15 20 25

On the other hand, if a function's domain is continuous, a table can give the values of the function at
specific values of the domain. If an intermediate value is needed, interpolation can be used to estimate
the value of the function. For example, a portion of a table for the sine function might be given as
follows, with values rounded to 6 decimal places:

x sin x
1.289 0.960557
1.290 0.960835

1.291 0.961112

1.292 0.961387
1.293 0.961662

Before the advent of handheld calculators and personal computers, such tables were often compiled and
published for functions such as logarithms and trigonometric functions.

Bar chart
A bar chart can represent a function whose domain is a finite set, the natural numbers, or the integers.
In this case, an element x of the domain is represented by an interval of the x-axis, and the
corresponding value of the function, f(x), is represented by a rectangle whose base is the interval
corresponding to x and whose height is f(x) (possibly negative, in which case the bar extends below the
x-axis).

General properties
This section describes general properties of functions, that are independent of specific properties of the
domain and the codomain.

Standard functions
There are a number of standard functions that occur frequently:

For every set X, there is a unique function, called the empty function, or empty map, from the
empty set to X. The graph of an empty function is the empty set.[note 5] The existence of empty
functions is needed both for the coherency of the theory and for avoiding exceptions concerning the
empty set in many statements. Under the usual set-theoretic definition of a function as an ordered
triplet (or equivalent ones), there is exactly one empty function for each set, thus the empty function
is not equal to if and only if , although their graphs are both the empty set.
For every set X and every singleton set {s}, there is a unique function from X to {s}, which maps
every element of X to s. This is a surjection (see below) unless X is the empty set.
Given a function the canonical surjection of f onto its image is
 the function from X to f(X) that maps x to f(x).
For every subset A of a set X, the inclusion map of A into X is the injective (see below) function that
maps every element of A to itself.
The identity function on a set X, often denoted by idX, is the inclusion of X into itself.

Function composition
Given two functions and such that the domain of g is the codomain of f, their
composition is the function defined by

That is, the value of is obtained by first applying f to x to obtain y = f(x) and then applying g to the
result y to obtain g(y) = g(f(x)). In this notation, the function that is applied first is always written on
the right.

The composition is an operation on functions that is defined only if the codomain of the first
function is the domain of the second one. Even when both and satisfy these conditions, the
composition is not necessarily commutative, that is, the functions and need not be equal, but
may deliver different values for the same argument. For example, let f(x) = x2 and g(x) = x + 1, then
and agree just for

The function composition is associative in the sense that, if one of and is defined,
then the other is also defined, and they are equal, that is, Therefore, it is usual
to just write

The identity functions and are respectively a right identity and a left identity for functions from
X to Y. That is, if f is a function with domain X, and codomain Y, one has
 A composite function g(f(x)) can be A simple example of a function
visualized as the combination of two composition
"machines".

Another composition. In this example,

(g ∘ f )(c) = #.

Image and preimage

Let The image under f of an element x of the domain X is f(x).[6] If A is any subset of X,
then the image of A under f, denoted f(A), is the subset of the codomain Y consisting of all images of
elements of A,[6] that is,

The image of f is the image of the whole domain, that is, f(X).[17] It is also called the range of f,[6][7][8][9]
although the term range may also refer to the codomain.[9][17][18]
On the other hand, the inverse image or preimage under f of an element y of the codomain Y is the set
of all elements of the domain X whose images under f equal y.[6] In symbols, the preimage of y is
denoted by and is given by the equation

Likewise, the preimage of a subset B of the codomain Y is the set of the preimages of the elements of B,
that is, it is the subset of the domain X consisting of all elements of X whose images belong to B.[6] It is
denoted by and is given by the equation

For example, the preimage of under the square function is the set .

By definition of a function, the image of an element x of the domain is always a single element of the
codomain. However, the preimage of an element y of the codomain may be empty or contain any
number of elements. For example, if f is the function from the integers to themselves that maps every
integer to 0, then .

If is a function, A and B are subsets of X, and C and D are subsets of Y, then one has the
following properties:

The preimage by f of an element y of the codomain is sometimes called, in some contexts, the fiber of y
under f.

If a function f has an inverse (see below), this inverse is denoted In this case may denote
either the image by or the preimage by f of C. This is not a problem, as these sets are equal. The
notation and may be ambiguous in the case of sets that contain some subsets as elements,
such as In this case, some care may be needed, for example, by using square brackets
for images and preimages of subsets and ordinary parentheses for images and preimages
of elements.

Injective, surjective and bijective functions

Let be a function.

The function f is injective (or one-to-one, or is an injection) if f(a) ≠ f(b) for every two different
elements a and b of X.[17][19] Equivalently, f is injective if and only if, for every the preimage
contains at most one element. An empty function is always injective. If X is not the empty set,
then f is injective if and only if there exists a function such that that is, if f has a
left inverse. [19] Proof: If f is injective, for defining g, one chooses an element in X (which exists as X
is supposed to be nonempty), [note 6] and one defines g by if and if
Conversely, if and then and thus
The function f is surjective (or onto, or is a surjection) if its range equals its codomain , that is,
if, for each element of the codomain, there exists some element of the domain such that
(in other words, the preimage of every is nonempty).[17][20] If, as usual in modern
mathematics, the axiom of choice is assumed, then f is surjective if and only if there exists a function
such that that is, if f has a right inverse.[20] The axiom of choice is needed,
because, if f is surjective, one defines g by where is an arbitrarily chosen element of

The function f is bijective (or is a bijection or a one-to-one correspondence) if it is both injective and
surjective.[17][21] That is, f is bijective if, for every the preimage contains exactly one
element. The function f is bijective if and only if it admits an inverse function, that is, a function
such that and [21] (Contrarily to the case of surjections, this does

not require the axiom of choice; the proof is straightforward).

Every function may be factorized as the composition of a surjection followed by an

injection, where s is the canonical surjection of X onto f(X) and i is the canonical injection of f(X) into Y.
This is the canonical factorization of f.

"One-to-one" and "onto" are terms that were more common in the older English language literature;
"injective", "surjective", and "bijective" were originally coined as French words in the second quarter of
the 20th century by the Bourbaki group and imported into English.[22] As a word of caution, "a one-to-
one function" is one that is injective, while a "one-to-one correspondence" refers to a bijective function.
Also, the statement "f maps X onto Y" differs from "f maps X into B", in that the former implies that f is
surjective, while the latter makes no assertion about the nature of f. In a complicated reasoning, the one
letter difference can easily be missed. Due to the confusing nature of this older terminology, these terms
have declined in popularity relative to the Bourbakian terms, which have also the advantage of being
more symmetrical.

Restriction and extension

If is a function and S is a subset of X, then the restriction of to S, denoted , is the
function from S to Y defined by

for all x in S. Restrictions can be used to define partial inverse functions: if there is a subset S of the
domain of a function such that is injective, then the canonical surjection of onto its image
is a bijection, and thus has an inverse function from to S. One application is the
definition of inverse trigonometric functions. For example, the cosine function is injective when
restricted to the interval [0, π]. The image of this restriction is the interval [−1, 1], and thus the
restriction has an inverse function from [−1, 1] to [0, π], which is called arccosine and is denoted
arccos.
Function restriction may also be used for "gluing" functions together. Let be the
decomposition of X as a union of subsets, and suppose that a function is defined on each
such that for each pair of indices, the restrictions of and to are equal. Then this
defines a unique function such that for all i. This is the way that functions on
manifolds are defined.
An extension of a function f is a function g such that f is a restriction of g. A typical use of this concept is
the process of analytic continuation, that allows extending functions whose domain is a small part of the
complex plane to functions whose domain is almost the whole complex plane.

Here is another classical example of a function extension that is encountered when studying
homographies of the real line. A homography is a function such that ad − bc ≠ 0. Its

domain is the set of all real numbers different from and its image is the set of all real numbers
different from If one extends the real line to the projectively extended real line by including ∞, one
may extend h to a bijection from the extended real line to itself by setting and
.

In calculus
The idea of function, starting in the 17th century, was fundamental to the new infinitesimal calculus. At
that time, only real-valued functions of a real variable were considered, and all functions were assumed
to be smooth. But the definition was soon extended to functions of several variables and to functions of
a complex variable. In the second half of the 19th century, the mathematically rigorous definition of a
function was introduced, and functions with arbitrary domains and codomains were defined.

Functions are now used throughout all areas of mathematics. In introductory calculus, when the word
function is used without qualification, it means a real-valued function of a single real variable. The more
general definition of a function is usually introduced to second or third year college students with STEM
majors, and in their senior year they are introduced to calculus in a larger, more rigorous setting in
courses such as real analysis and complex analysis.

Real function
A real function is a real-valued function of a real variable, that
is, a function whose codomain is the field of real numbers and
whose domain is a set of real numbers that contains an interval.
In this section, these functions are simply called functions.

The functions that are most commonly considered in

mathematics and its applications have some regularity, that is
they are continuous, differentiable, and even analytic. This
regularity insures that these functions can be visualized by their
graphs. In this section, all functions are differentiable in some
interval.

Functions enjoy pointwise operations, that is, if f and g are

Graph of a linear function
functions, their sum, difference and product are functions
defined by

The domains of the resulting functions are the intersection of the domains of f and g. The quotient of
two functions is defined similarly by
but the domain of the resulting function is obtained by removing
the zeros of g from the intersection of the domains of f and g.

The polynomial functions are defined by polynomials, and their

domain is the whole set of real numbers. They include constant
functions, linear functions and quadratic functions. Rational
functions are quotients of two polynomial functions, and their
domain is the real numbers with a finite number of them
removed to avoid division by zero. The simplest rational
Graph of a polynomial function, here a
function is the function whose graph is a hyperbola,
quadratic function.
and whose domain is the whole real line except for 0.

The derivative of a real differentiable function is a real function.

An antiderivative of a continuous real function is a real function
that has the original function as a derivative. For example, the
function is continuous, and even differentiable, on the
positive real numbers. Thus one antiderivative, which takes the
Graph of two trigonometric functions: sine
value zero for x = 1, is a differentiable function called the
and cosine.
natural logarithm.

A real function f is monotonic in an interval if the sign of

does not depend of the choice of x and y in the interval. If the function is differentiable in

the interval, it is monotonic if the sign of the derivative is constant in the interval. If a real function f is
monotonic in an interval I, it has an inverse function, which is a real function with domain f(I) and
image I. This is how inverse trigonometric functions are defined in terms of trigonometric functions,
where the trigonometric functions are monotonic. Another example: the natural logarithm is monotonic
on the positive real numbers, and its image is the whole real line; therefore it has an inverse function
that is a bijection between the real numbers and the positive real numbers. This inverse is the
exponential function.

Many other real functions are defined either by the implicit function theorem (the inverse function is a
particular instance) or as solutions of differential equations. For example, the sine and the cosine
functions are the solutions of the linear differential equation

such that

Vector-valued function
When the elements of the codomain of a function are vectors, the function is said to be a vector-valued
function. These functions are particularly useful in applications, for example modeling physical
properties. For example, the function that associates to each point of a fluid its velocity vector is a
vector-valued function.

Some vector-valued functions are defined on a subset of or other spaces that share geometric or
topological properties of , such as manifolds. These vector-valued functions are given the name
vector fields.

Function space
In mathematical analysis, and more specifically in functional analysis, a function space is a set of
scalar-valued or vector-valued functions, which share a specific property and form a topological vector
space. For example, the real smooth functions with a compact support (that is, they are zero outside
some compact set) form a function space that is at the basis of the theory of distributions.

Function spaces play a fundamental role in advanced mathematical analysis, by allowing the use of their
algebraic and topological properties for studying properties of functions. For example, all theorems of
existence and uniqueness of solutions of ordinary or partial differential equations result of the study of
function spaces.

Multi-valued functions
Several methods for specifying functions of real or complex
variables start from a local definition of the function at a point
or on a neighbourhood of a point, and then extend by continuity
the function to a much larger domain. Frequently, for a starting
point there are several possible starting values for the
function.

For example, in defining the square root as the inverse function

of the square function, for any positive real number there
are two choices for the value of the square root, one of which is
Together, the two square roots of all
positive and denoted and another which is negative and nonnegative real numbers form a single
denoted These choices define two continuous functions, smooth curve.
both having the nonnegative real numbers as a domain, and
having either the nonnegative or the nonpositive real numbers
as images. When looking at the graphs of these functions, one
can see that, together, they form a single smooth curve. It is
therefore often useful to consider these two square root
functions as a single function that has two values for positive x,
one value for 0 and no value for negative x.

In the preceding example, one choice, the positive square root,

is more natural than the other. This is not the case in general.
For example, let consider the implicit function that maps y to a
root x of (see the figure on the right). For
y = 0 one may choose either for x. By the implicit function theorem, each choice
defines a function; for the first one, the (maximal) domain is the interval [−2, 2] and the image is
[−1, 1]; for the second one, the domain is [−2, ∞) and the image is [1, ∞); for the last one, the domain
is (−∞, 2] and the image is (−∞, −1]. As the three graphs together form a smooth curve, and there is no
reason for preferring one choice, these three functions are often considered as a single multi-valued
function of y that has three values for −2 < y < 2, and only one value for y ≤ −2 and y ≥ −2.
Usefulness of the concept of multi-valued functions is clearer when considering complex functions,
typically analytic functions. The domain to which a complex function may be extended by analytic
continuation generally consists of almost the whole complex plane. However, when extending the
domain through two different paths, one often gets different values. For example, when extending the
domain of the square root function, along a path of complex numbers with positive imaginary parts, one
gets i for the square root of −1; while, when extending through complex numbers with negative
imaginary parts, one gets −i. There are generally two ways of solving the problem. One may define a
function that is not continuous along some curve, called a branch cut. Such a function is called the
principal value of the function. The other way is to consider that one has a multi-valued function, which
is analytic everywhere except for isolated singularities, but whose value may "jump" if one follows a
closed loop around a singularity. This jump is called the monodromy.

In the foundations of mathematics

The definition of a function that is given in this article requires the concept of set, since the domain and
the codomain of a function must be a set. This is not a problem in usual mathematics, as it is generally
not difficult to consider only functions whose domain and codomain are sets, which are well defined,
even if the domain is not explicitly defined. However, it is sometimes useful to consider more general
functions.

For example, the singleton set may be considered as a function Its domain would include all
sets, and therefore would not be a set. In usual mathematics, one avoids this kind of problem by
specifying a domain, which means that one has many singleton functions. However, when establishing
foundations of mathematics, one may have to use functions whose domain, codomain or both are not
specified, and some authors, often logicians, give precise definitions for these weakly specified
functions.[23]

These generalized functions may be critical in the development of a formalization of the foundations of
mathematics. For example, Von Neumann–Bernays–Gödel set theory, is an extension of the set theory
in which the collection of all sets is a class. This theory includes the replacement axiom, which may be
stated as: If X is a set and F is a function, then F[X] is a set.

In alternative formulations of the foundations of mathematics using type theory rather than set theory,
functions are taken as primitive notions rather than defined from other kinds of object. They are the
inhabitants of function types, and may be constructed using expressions in the lambda calculus.[24]

In computer science
In computer programming, a function is, in general, a subroutine which implements the abstract
concept of function. That is, it is a program unit that produces an output for each input. Functional
programming is the programming paradigm consisting of building programs by using only subroutines
that behave like mathematical functions, meaning that they have no side effects and depend only on
their arguments: they are referentially transparent. For example, if_then_else is a function that takes
three (nullary) functions as arguments, and, depending on the value of the first argument (true or false),
returns the value of either the second or the third argument. An important advantage of functional
programming is that it makes easier program proofs, as being based on a well founded theory, the
lambda calculus (see below). However, side effects are generally necessary for practical programs, ones
that perform input/output. There is a class of purely functional languages, such as Haskell, which
encapsulate the possibility of side effects in the type of a function. Others, such as the ML family, simply
allow side effects.
In many programming languages, every subroutine is called a function, even when there is no output
but only side effects, and when the functionality consists simply of modifying some data in the computer
memory.

Outside the context of programming languages, "function" has the usual mathematical meaning in
computer science. In this area, a property of major interest is the computability of a function. For giving
a precise meaning to this concept, and to the related concept of algorithm, several models of
computation have been introduced, the old ones being general recursive functions, lambda calculus, and
Turing machine. The fundamental theorem of computability theory is that these three models of
computation define the same set of computable functions, and that all the other models of computation
that have ever been proposed define the same set of computable functions or a smaller one. The
Church–Turing thesis is the claim that every philosophically acceptable definition of a computable
function defines also the same functions.

General recursive functions are partial functions from integers to integers that can be defined from

constant functions,
successor, and
projection functions
via the operators

composition,
primitive recursion, and
minimization.
Although defined only for functions from integers to integers, they can model any computable function
as a consequence of the following properties:

a computation is the manipulation of finite sequences of symbols (digits of numbers, formulas, etc.),
every sequence of symbols may be coded as a sequence of bits,
a bit sequence can be interpreted as the binary representation of an integer.
Lambda calculus is a theory that defines computable functions without using set theory, and is the
theoretical background of functional programming. It consists of terms that are either variables,
function definitions (𝜆-terms), or applications of functions to terms. Terms are manipulated by
interpreting its axioms (the α-equivalence, the β-reduction, and the η-conversion) as rewriting rules,
which can be used for computation.

In its original form, lambda calculus does not include the concepts of domain and codomain of a
function. Roughly speaking, they have been introduced in the theory under the name of type in typed
lambda calculus. Most kinds of typed lambda calculi can define fewer functions than untyped lambda
calculus.

See also

Subpages
History of the function concept Function fitting
List of types of functions Implicit function
List of functions
Generalizations
Higher-order function Microfunction
Homomorphism Distribution
Morphism Functor

Related topics
Associative array Functional predicate
Closed-form expression Functional programming
Elementary function Parametric equation
Functional Set function
Functional decomposition Simple function

Notes
1. This definition of "graph" refers to a set of pairs of objects. Graphs, in the sense of diagrams, are
most applicable to functions from the real numbers to themselves. All functions can be described by
sets of pairs but it may not be practical to construct a diagram for functions between other sets
(such as sets of matrices).
2. The true domain of such a function is often called the domain of definition of the function.
3. n may also be 1, thus subsuming functions as defined above. For n = 0, each constant is a special
case of a multivariate function, too.
4. Here "elementary" has not exactly its common sense: although most functions that are encountered
in elementary courses of mathematics are elementary in this sense, some elementary functions are
not elementary for the common sense, for example, those that involve roots of polynomials of high
degree.
5. By definition, the graph of the empty function to X is a subset of the Cartesian product ∅ × X, and
this product is empty.
6. The axiom of choice is not needed here, as the choice is done in a single set.

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Further reading
Anton, Howard (1980). Calculus with Analytical Geometry (https://archive.org/details/studentssolutio
n00anto). Wiley. ISBN 978-0-471-03248-9.
Bartle, Robert G. (1976). The Elements of Real Analysis (2nd ed.). Wiley. ISBN 978-0-471-05464-1.
Dubinsky, Ed; Harel, Guershon (1992). The Concept of Function: Aspects of Epistemology and
Pedagogy. Mathematical Association of America. ISBN 978-0-88385-081-7.
Hammack, Richard (2009). "12. Functions" (https://www.people.vcu.edu/~rhammack/BookOfProof/M
ain.pdf#page=235) (PDF). Book of Proof (https://www.people.vcu.edu/~rhammack/BookOfProof/).
Virginia Commonwealth University. Retrieved 2012-08-01.
Husch, Lawrence S. (2001). Visual Calculus (http://archives.math.utk.edu/visual.calculus/).
University of Tennessee. Retrieved 2007-09-27.
Katz, Robert (1964). Axiomatic Analysis. D. C. Heath and Company.
Kleiner, Israel (1989). "Evolution of the Function Concept: A Brief Survey". The College Mathematics
Journal. 20 (4): 282–300. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.113.6352 (https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summar
y?doi=10.1.1.113.6352). doi:10.2307/2686848 (https://doi.org/10.2307%2F2686848).
JSTOR 2686848 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/2686848).
Lützen, Jesper (2003). "Between rigor and applications: Developments in the concept of function in
mathematical analysis" (https://books.google.com/books?id=B3WvWhJTTX8C&pg=PA468). In
Porter, Roy (ed.). The Cambridge History of Science: The modern physical and mathematical
sciences. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-57199-9. An approachable and diverting
historical presentation.
Malik, M. A. (1980). "Historical and pedagogical aspects of the definition of function". International
Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology. 11 (4): 489–492.
doi:10.1080/0020739800110404 (https://doi.org/10.1080%2F0020739800110404).
Reichenbach, Hans (1947). Elements of Symbolic Logic. Dover. ISBN 0-486-24004-5.
Ruthing, D. (1984). "Old Intelligencer: Some definitions of the concept of function from Bernoulli,
Joh. to Bourbaki, N.". Mathematical Intelligencer. 6 (4): 71–78. doi:10.1007/BF03026743 (https://doi.
org/10.1007%2FBF03026743). S2CID 189883712 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:18988
3712).
Thomas, George B.; Finney, Ross L. (1995). Calculus and Analytic Geometry (https://archive.org/det
ails/calculusanalytic00geor_0) (9th ed.). Addison-Wesley. ISBN 978-0-201-53174-9.

External links
The Wolfram Functions (http://functions.wolfram.com/) – website giving formulae and visualizations
of many mathematical functions
NIST Digital Library of Mathematical Functions (https://dlmf.nist.gov/)

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