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# Questions tagged [functions]

For questions about the teaching of the function concept, function properties, and various types of functions.

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### How to help new students accept function notation

I am struggling to help some of my new precalculus students accept function notation -- something new to them this term. I am looking for strategies to help them adopt this new notation. Their main ...
209 views

### What are some common ways students get confused about finding an inverse of a function?

What are some common ways students get confused about finding an inverse of a function? One I can think of is conflating multiplicative inverses of rational numbers with functional inverses. e.g. ...
92 views

### Quadratic modeling project with upward-facing parabola

I'm teaching a college algebra course and I'm trying to design a few projects that involve modeling with quadratic functions. So far I have two ideas that involve downward-facing parabolas (projectile ...
285 views

### How can I explain horizontal shifts to a 12-year-old by analogizing with $\text{your money} = \text{my money} + 1?$

My 12-year-old cousin thinks this explanation is the most comprehensible, but she still can't relate the analogy with wealth inequality If I say ...
421 views

### Examples (for beginners) of real functions which are not given by elementary formulae

Question: What are good examples of functions $f: \Bbb R \rightarrow \Bbb R$ (or $f: D \rightarrow \Bbb R$ with $D \subseteq \Bbb R$) which are not just given by "a formula" (or finitely many formulae ...
83 views

### How can I make “complex” graphs that combine multiple functions with a software?

Til today I've been using geogebra to sketch functions for my students quizzes or homework. Sometimes I use the ones that I found searching in google, but this takes a lot of time specially because I ...
377 views

### Simple, elegant ways to teach the idea of what functions are for the first time

The context In my country, when the concept of function needs to be introduced in math classes, most teachers will simply talk about $f(x)=c$, $f(x)=ax+b$ and $f(x)=1/x$ (constant, linear and inverse ...
288 views

### Shifting function graphs: writing vertical offset on the y-side?

Students tend to mix up signs when shifting function graphs around: consider $y=x^2$. To shift it one unit upwards ("increasing $y$"), you write $y=x^2+1$, to shift it to the right ("increasing $x$"), ...
3k views

### “Real world” examples of implicit functions

When teaching implicit differentiation in freshman calculus I lack good examples which might help students relate the theory to applications in other sciences. So I'm looking for (relatively simple) ...
159 views

### Which book has functions and their respective graphs? [closed]

I am looking for a book, which has different many different types of functions and their graphs (like, Weierstrass function, Takagi function).
116 views

### Dissemination of mistakes in international texts such as the IGCSE

I started tutoring IGCSE Mathematics. In preparation for just a 1 hour class for 1 student, I noticed at least 3 mistakes (confirmed with their replies to me) in Chapter 21 of the Haese 0607 book (...
267 views

### How can we focus students on the various data types in multivariable calculus?

To try to find out if students knew what the gradient was, after the computational questions, I asked the following question on an exam: Let $f(x, y) = 5 - x - y$. Why doesn't it make sense to find ...
8k views

188 views

### Which math class should I take as an exchange student in the USA (OH)? [closed]

I will go to an American High School (Ohio) this summer for a year and I will probably be a junior. I got a list of all classes, but there are really many classes to choose especially math classes. I ...
124 views

### In Polynomial Form, After Simplification (But Not Before!)

We know that $\dfrac{(x^2+1)x^3}{x^2+1}=x^3$ and $(\sqrt{|x|})^4=x^2$ for every $x\in \mathbb{R}$. Can $\dfrac{(x^2+1)x^3}{x^2+1}$ and $(\sqrt{|x|})^4$ be called polynomials? Is there a general name ...
147 views

### Name to use for codomain/range/target

There are many questions about how best to teach functions, for example why don't we teach codomains in HS and should we teach them at all. On Math.SX there are questions about the "right" name for ...
324 views

### Is simplifying a rational function considered as a continuous extension?

Given the rational function $f(x)=\frac{x^2-1}{x+1}$. The expression can be simplified to $g(x)=x-1$ and thus the singularity at $x=-1$ is removed. I would personally claim that $f$ and $g$ are the ...
2k views

### Is this just a mistake or a more serious misconception?

One of my main research areas is algebraic thinking at different levels. Yet, from time to time, I observe something that I cannot relate to anything else that I know. This is the story of one of ...
373 views

### Simpler explanation for finding the vertex of a parabola

I'm tutoring a Grade 11 Math student in BC, Canada, and we're going over parabolas. He's having difficulty with finding the vertex of a parabola - not how to find it, but WHY it works. And I'm having ...
313 views

### What are sources for non-routine problems involving quadratic functions (in one variable)?

I'm planning to get some sources which explain beautiful problems about quadratic function. I know that there are another kind of functions, but the quadratic function has different applications in ...
3k views

### Should we teach functions as sets of ordered pairs?

The context of this question is an "introduction to proofs and mathematics" class for freshman/sophomore math majors. Most textbooks for such a class say something about functions between arbitrary ...
152 views

### Resources suitable for a beginners' course with exponentials

I'm currently involved in developing materials for a new UK tier of examination known as Core Maths. The course is designed for 16-18 year olds to further their mathematics education but without ...
377 views

### Why don't we teach codomains of functions in high school?

When I was a university student, I learnt that a function is the data of three informations: the rule that tells how to associate an object $x$ to its image $f(x)$, A domain $E$ where live the ...
246 views

### What is a good way to explain the slightly different kinds of continuity?

What is a good way to explain the slightly different kinds of continuity to students? I have in mind these kinds of continuity: A function is continuous at a point. (This also has two sub-kinds: ...
354 views

### Examples of when $\tan(x) = \frac{\sin(x)}{\cos(x)}$ is useful

I'm making a video right now about the unit circle definitions of the basic trig functions. I've done sine and cosine, and am now talking about the tangent function. As most of you know, it can be ...
8k views

### Real life examples to motivate the study of linear functions

Some years ago I used mobile phone or internet rates (for example, with basic fees and a given charge per minute or by data volume) to introduce and motivate the study of linear functions. However, ...
869 views

### Why are hyperbolic functions given “short shrift” at “low” levels of math?

Starting with "precalculus," students learn trigonometric functions. After they've spent a semester or more learning how to differentiate and integrate these trigonometric functions in calculus, ...
152 views

### Is there a conventional function notation that takes a polynomial and order and yields the coefficient corresponding to the order?

I am writing a book and for the sake of simplicity I want to do something as follows. Coef((-3x^2 +5x -1)(x^2 +1), 2) = -3 -1 = -4 where the first argument ...
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