Trying to explain to my high schooler in simple terms so he (and I) can get it. He sees f(x) and just shuts down.
Thanks for all the answers. I will try these. He panics when he has math because he was called “stupid” and put in a slow learners class in elementary school.
In: Mathematics
I would explain this using a diagram. It’s like an input, a “box”, and an output. To be explicit:
For f(x) = x + 2
Input | Function box | Output
x = 1 | 1 + 2 | 3
x = 12 | 12 + 2 | 14
So when you see f(x), you should be thinking about it in terms of of the above.
I would also drive the point home that if f(x) = x + 2 … then f(y) = y +2 … it’s just a placeholder for a value to be put in and taken out.
You can extend it as well because “f” is just a signifier that it’s a function. You could equally say g(y) = y + 2, where g is the function instead.
Finally, you can combine them together like f(x) = x^2 and g(y) = y + 2. Then g( f(x) ) does the same thing. The input uses the function to generate an output so:
– g( f(x) ) = f(x) + 2 = x^2 + 2
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