Increasing and Decreasing Functions

Increasing Functions

A function is "increasing" if the y-value increases as the x-value increases, like this:

Increasing Function

It is easy to see that y=f(x) tends to go up as it goes along.

Flat ?

What about that flat bit near the start? Is that OK?

Yes, it is OK if you say the function is Increasing
But it is not OK if you say the function is Strictly Increasing (no flatness allowed)

Using Algebra

What if you can't plot the graph to see if it is increasing? In that case is is good to have a definition using algebra.

For a function y=f(x):

when x₁ < x₂ then f(x₁) ≤ f(x₂)	Increasing
when x₁ < x₂ then f(x₁) < f(x₂)	Strictly Increasing

That has to be true for any x₁, x₂, not just some nice ones you choose.

The important parts are the < and ≤ signs ... remember where they go!

An Example:

This is also an increasing function
even though the rate of increase reduces

For An Interval

Usually you will only be interested in some interval, like this one:

Increasing Function

This function is increasing for the interval shown
(it may be increasing or decreasing elsewhere)

Decreasing Functions

The y-value decreases as the x-value increases:

Decreasing Function

For a function y=f(x):

when x₁ < x₂ then f(x₁) ≥ f(x₂)	Decreasing
when x₁ < x₂ then f(x₁) > f(x₂)	Strictly Decreasing

Notice that f(x₁) is now larger than (or equal to) f(x₂).

An Example

Let us try to find where a function is increasing or decreasing

Example: f(x) = x³-4x, for x in the interval [-1,2]

Let us plot it, including the interval [-1,2]:

Starting from -1 (the beginning of the interval [-1,2]):

at x = -1 the function is decreasing,
it continues to decrease until about 1.2
it then increases from there, past x = 2

Without exact analysis we cannot pinpoint where the curve turns from decreasing to increasing, so let us just say:

Within the interval [-1,2]:

the curve decreases in the interval [-1, approx 1.2]
the curve increases in the interval [approx 1.2, 2]

Constant Functions

A Constant Function is a horizontal line:

Constant Function

Lines

In fact lines are either increasing, decreasing, or constant.

The equation of a line is:

y = mx + b

The slope m tells us if the function is increasing, decreasing or constant:

m < 0	decreasing
m = 0	constant
m > 0	increasing

One-to-One

Strictly Increasing (and Strictly Decreasing) functions have a special property called "injective" or "one-to-one" which simply means you never get the same "y" value twice.


General Function		"Injective" (one-to-one)

Why is this useful? Because Injective Functions can be reversed!

You can go from a "y" value back to an "x" value (which you couldn't do if there were more than one possible "x" value).

Read Injective, Surjective and Bijective to find out more.