First I'll teach you a little bit about inverse functions.
Stuff you should know before you try to do inverse problems:
This is the graph of the inverse of f(x), which we call f-1(x).
The inverse of a function is the graph made by interchanging
the x-coordinates with the y-coordinates of the points on
the graph.
That is to say that if (a,b) is a point on f(x), then
(b,a) is a point on f-1(x).
If the equation for f-1(x) were simpler we could
calculate it and graph it. But we can't do that here because
we don't know how to solve a 5th degree polynomial for x.
I will find a few points on f(x), by finding
a few points on f-1(x) and reversing the coordinates.
x f-1(x) point on f-1(x) point on f(x)
------------------------------------------------
-1 -5.00 (-1,-5.00) (-5.00,1)
-0.9 -3.75 (-0.9,-3.75) (-3.75,-0.9)
-0.8 -2.75 (-0.8,-2.75) (-2.75,-0.8)
-0.7 -1.95 (-0.7,-1.95) (-1.95,-0.7)
-0.5 -0.78 (-0.5,-0.78) (-0.78,-0.5)
0.0 1.00 (0,1.00) (1.00,0)
0.3 1.96 (0.3,1.96) (1.96,0.3)
0.5 2.78 (0.5,2.78) (2.78,0.5)
0.7 3.95 (0.7,3.95) (3.95,0.7)
0.8 4.75 (0.8,4.75) (4.75,0.8)
Here are those 10 points of f(x) plotted:
Now we'll look at your questions:
(a) Compute f-1(1) and f(1)
To find f-1(1), substitute x=1 in
So f-1(1) = 7
That means the point (1,7) is on the graph of f-1(x).
We want to find f(1).
We notice that since
ends with a 1.
Then if x=0 then
So the point (0,1) is on the graph of f-1(x),
so the point (1,0) is on the graph of f(x), so
f(1) = 0
(b) Compute the value of
such that
.
That means (x0,1) must be on f(x), so its reverse,
(1,x0) must be on f-1(x), and since f-1(1) = 7,
(1,7) is on f-1(x) and that means (7,1) is on f(x), so
therefore f(7)=1 so x0 = 7
(c) Compute the value of
such that
.
That means (y0,1) must be on f-1(x), so its reverse,
(1,y0) must be on f(x), and since f(1) = 0,
(1,0) is on f(x) and that means (0,1) is on f-1(x), so
therefore f-1(0)=1 so y0 = 0.
Edwin