## Domain, Range, and Codomain of a Function

When working with quantitative relationships, three concepts help “set the stage” in your thinking as you seek to understand the relationship’s behavior: domain, range, and codomain.

### Domain

The “domain” of a function or relation is:

• the set of all values for which it can be evaluated
• the set of  allowable “input” values
• the values along the horizontal axis for which a point can be plotted along the vertical axis

For example, the following functions can be evaluated for any value of  “x”:

$f(x)=2x+1\\*~\\*g(x)=x^2+5$

therefore their domains will be “the set of all real numbers”.

The following functions cannot be evaluated for all values of “x”, leading to restrictions on their Domains – as listed to the right of each one:

$h(x)=\dfrac{1}{x}~~~~~~~~~\text{x cannot be zero}\\*~\\*j(x)=\dfrac{1}{(x-2)(x+4)}~~~~~~\text{x cannot be 2 or -4}\\*~\\*k(x)=3x+2,~1

The values for which a function or relation cannot be Continue reading Domain, Range, and Codomain of a Function