(a) Using the table, give the values fo rthe inverse
1) original table of values:
x 1 2 3 4 5
f(x) 0 1 1 5 3
2) The inverse of the function is obtained by exchanging x and f(x), this is:
( x, f(x) ) → ( f(x), x)
3) So, the table of values of the inverse of the given function is:
x 0 1 1 5 3
f⁻¹ (x) 0 1 2 3 4
(b) Is the inverse a function?
No, the inverse is not a function, since the table of the inverse shows that the x -value 1 has two different images.
This ambigüity is opposite to the definition of a function, which requires that any input value has only one output. For that reason, the inverse is not a function. You cannot tell whether the image of 1 is 1 or 2, because both are images of the same value.
