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Question 863828: what does it mean Functions? Please explain that in English witout using mathmatical symbols
Answer by solver91311(24713)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Imagine a box, perhaps the size and shape of a shoebox. At one end of the box you have a slot into which you can put a piece of paper with a number on it. At the other end is a little tray. On the side of the box is a crank handle. You write a number on a slip of paper and put it into the slot, then you turn the handle and another slip of paper comes out of the other end and falls into the tray.
This imaginary box is a mechanical representation of a mathematical function IF it has the following property:
Any time you put a particular number into the slot the function always produces the same result. For example, if you put a 2 into a particular function machine and get a 4 out the other end, that function will ALWAYS produce a 4 when a 2 is input. If you ever have a machine that takes a particular input and sometimes gives you one answer and sometimes another, then the machine is NOT a function, it is a relation.
Note that it is perfectly ok if more than one input causes the same output, in fact, it is possible to define functions where the output is the same regardless of the input.
Some function machines restrict the values that can be input. You might find that one or more real numbers are not allowed, or that whole sets of numbers, such as all of the negative numbers are not allowed. The set of real numbers that ARE allowed is called the DOMAIN of the function.
All function machines have a particular set of numbers that are possible to occur in the output. This set of numbers is called the RANGE of the function.
At some point you will need to understand all of this in terms of mathematical symbols.
Function Notation:
 is the number that goes into the input slot.
) is the number that ends up in the output tray.
If \ =\ ) (some mathematical operations on ), then those mathematical operations are a description of what is going on inside of the box when you turn the crank.
John
My calculator said it, I believe it, that settles it
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