You can tell that two functions are inverse functions when each one undoes what the other does. When you graph inverse functions, each is a mirror image of the other. Here are some examples of inverse functions:
You can write all of this in one step as:
If you write this in one step, you get:
Don’t confuse the superscript –1 in a function with exponent –1.
When you graph inverse functions, each is the mirror image of the other, reflected over the line
y = x.
These functions are graphed below:
If you rotate the graph in the figure counterclockwise so that the line y = x is vertical, you can easily see that these functions are mirror images of each other. One consequence of this symmetry is that if a point like (2, 4) is on one of the functions, then the point (4, 2) will be on the other.
