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Section 5.3 Composition and Inverse Functions

Definition 5.9.

Let \(A\text{,}\) \(B\) and \(C\) be sets, and let \(f : A \to B\) and \(g : B \to C\) be functions. The composition of \(f\) and \(g\) is the function \(g \circ f : A \to C\) defined by
\begin{equation*} (g \circ f )(x) = g( f (x)) \end{equation*}
for all \(x\in A\text{.}\)

Definition 5.11.

Let \(A\) and \(B\) be sets, and let \(f : A \to B\) and g : \(B \to A\) be functions.
  • The function \(g\) is a right inverse for \(f\) if \(f \circ g = 1B\text{.}\)
  • The function \(g\) is a left inverse for \(f\) if \(g \circ f = 1A\text{.}\)
  • The function \(g\) is an inverse for \(f\) if it is both a right inverse and a left inverse.

Convention 5.13.

Let \(A\) and \(B\) be sets, and let \(f : A \to B\) be a function. If \(f\) has an inverse, the inverse is denoted \(f\inv : B \to A\text{.}\)
Let \(A\) and \(B\) be sets, let \(U \subseteq A\) and \(V \subseteq C\) be subsets, and let \(f : A \to B\) and \(g : B \to C\) be functions. Prove that
\begin{equation*} (g \circ f )(U) = g( f (U)) and (g \circ f )-1(V ) = f\inv (g-1(V ))\text{.} \end{equation*}