Browse · MATH
Printjmc
algebra senior
Problem
Let Find the function such that is its own inverse.
Solution
We want to have that for every Since we know is its own inverse at so we can restrict our attention to
Since applied to any number less than returns a number greater than and we can get all numbers greater than this way, applying to any number greater than must give a number less than Therefore for any
If and is its own inverse then where in the last step we used that Subtracting from both sides gives Next, we recall that we must have so must be the negative number whose square is That is, we have
Solving this for gives
Since applied to any number less than returns a number greater than and we can get all numbers greater than this way, applying to any number greater than must give a number less than Therefore for any
If and is its own inverse then where in the last step we used that Subtracting from both sides gives Next, we recall that we must have so must be the negative number whose square is That is, we have
Solving this for gives
Final answer
-\sqrt{x-2}+2