MIT OpenCourseWare Close Window
 
» Required Reading » Table of Contents » Chapter 1 » Section 1.4

Exercise 1.7

Previous Exercise Next Exercise

For what values can you define the inverse of the function cos(sin(x)). Hint: set f = cos(sin(x)) look at its inverse and figure out the answer.

Solution:

The inverse function f, with f = cos(sin x) can be defined at any argument that is a value for cos(sin x). Since sin(x) takes values between -1 and 1, and cosine is an even function, its values lie between cos(0) (which is 1) and cos(1), which is .540302306, more or less. Therefore this inverse function can be defined between this value and 1. In that domain its value must be chosen to be one from among the various arguments for cos(sin x)) which have that value. (for example, you could choose a value between 0 and .)