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Suppose the domain of f is (-1,3). Define the function g by
g(x) = 5 - f(x) + f(5/x).
What is the domain of g?
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Let D be the domain of f(x), D = (-1,3).
Both x and 5/x should be in the interval (-1,3),
and, additionally, x should not be equal to 0 (zero).
So, the constraints are
-1 < x < 3, (1)
-1 < 5/x < 3, (2)
x =/= 0. (3)
Inequalities (1) and (3) tell us that we should consider two separate intervals (-1,0) and (0,3) for x,
and determine other limitations on x from inequality (2)
(a) So, let x be in the interval (-1,0). Thus, x is negative now.
Then first of the two inequalities (2), -1 < 5/x, is equivalent to
-x > 5 (after multiplying both sides by negative value of x and flipping the inequality sign),
or, which is the same,
x < -5.
Thus we determined that if x is in (-1,0), then due to first inequality (2),
x must be lesser than -5, which is out of the domain D.
So, we may exclude this case "x is in (-1,0)" from our consideration.
(b) Now, let x be in the interval (0,3). Thus, x is positive now.
Then first of the two inequalities (2), -1 < 5/x, is always valid and does not imply other restrictions on x.
The second of the two inequalities (2), 5/x < 3, then implies x > 5/3.
Thus, if x is positive, then due to second inequality of (2),
x must be greater than 5/3.
Combining what we found in (a) and (b), the answer to the problem's question is
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| The domain of the function g(x) is (5/3,3). |
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Solved.