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Introduction and Basic Terminology 19

By definition, a real-valued function h is said to be one-to-one if for every

two real numbers xi and xj such that xi 7^X2, it follows that h{x\) ^ /ife).

The composition of two functions is the function defined as

fog{x)=f{g{x)).

Using these two definitions, we can explicitly rewrite the conclusion to be

reached as:

B. If x\ and X2 are two real numbers such that x\ ^ X2, then

fog{xi)^fog{x2).

Proof: Let x\ and X2 be two real numbers such that Xi ^ X2. (Examine in

detail each step of the construction of the function to see "what happens" to

the values corresponding to x\ and X2.) As ^ is a one-to-one function, it

follows that:

Set yi = g(xi) and y2 = g(x2).

g{xi) ^ g(x2y

As/is a one-to-one function and yi 7^ y2, it follows that:

f(yi)

^fiyi)

thatis,/(^(xi))7^/(^(x2)).

Thus, by the definition of, we can conclude that if x\ and X2 are two real

numbers such that x\ ^ X2, then

Therefore is / o ^ a one-to-one function.

RELATED STATEMENTS

If we are having a conversation with a person who makes a statement

whose meaning escapes us, we might ask, "What do you mean?" Our hope is

that the wording of the statement will be changed so that we can grasp its

meaning, without changing the meaning itself. This situation happens when

we are working with mathematical statements as well. How do we change a

mathematical statement into one that is easier for us to handle but has the

same mathematical meaning?

Two statements are logically equivalent when they have the same truth

table. So, we can change a mathematical statement into one easier to work

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