Browse · MATH
Printjmc
algebra senior
Problem
Let Find the function such that is its own inverse function.
Solution
We want to have that for every If then so we are fine.
Since applied to any negative number returns a positive number, and we can get all positive numbers this way, applying to any positive number must give a negative number. Therefore for any
If and is its own inverse then where in the last step we used that
Solving this for gives
Since applied to any negative number returns a positive number, and we can get all positive numbers this way, applying to any positive number must give a negative number. Therefore for any
If and is its own inverse then where in the last step we used that
Solving this for gives
Final answer
-\frac1{2x}