Range of a Function
Definition
In mathematics, the range of a function may refer to either of two closely related concepts:
- The codomain of the function
- The image of the function
Given two sets X and Y, a binary relation f between X and Y is a (total) function (from X to Y) if for every x in X there is exactly one y in Y such that f relates x to y. The sets X and Y are called domain and codomain of f, respectively. The image of f is then the subset of Y consisting of only those elements y of Y such that there is at least one x in X with f(x) = y.
In algebra, the range (or codomain) of a function is all of the possible outputs of the function. That is, if x is any element of the domain of some function f, then f(x) is in the range of the function f.
Examples:
- Let Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle S} be a set of ordered pairs such that . The range is the set of all y values of , so the range is .
- The range of is all real numbers EXCEPT for 0. We know this because for all nonzero real numbers M, 1/M is a nonzero number and is in the domain of (since the domain of this function is all nonzero numbers). So, we know that Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle 1/(1/M) = M } is in the range, where M is all nonzero numbers. There is no real number M such that Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle 1/M = 0 } though, which is why 0 is not in the range of Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle g(x) } .
- The range of Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle h(x) = x^2 + 2 } is Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle [2,\inf) } . We can see this on the graph of Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle h(x) } easily: the lowest point, or vertex, of the parabola is at (0, 2), so 2 is in the range. The parabola extends up to infinity on either side of the vertex, so we know that the range must be all numbers from 2 to infinity.
Resources
- Domain and Range, Interactive Mathematics
- Domain and Range: Basic Idea, patrickJMT
- Finding Domain and Range with Graphs, Lumen Learning
- Finding Domain and Range of a Piecewise Function, patrickJMT
- How to Find Range + Example Problems, Math Culus
Licensing
Content obtained and/or adapted from:
- Range of a function, Wikipedia under a CC BY-SA license