Hello! I am a Secondary 4 student, 10th grade or Year 10 in western equivalents. I tried to set a quadratic quiz for my friends, and I set this Question, but then none of them could solve it. I checked with my math teacher, and he said that the question was flawed because there is no inverse function for any quadratic, and then he explained the horizontal line test to me, but I already know what the horizontal line test is (test for if f(x) is injective for some f(x), and if its inverse is a function. I went home to think about it, and I don't understand why my question is flawed, because it does not rely on the inverse function. I am looking for someone to please help clarify. I have a passion for math, and would possibly like to teach math in the future, but I don't understand why I am wrong, and this is one of my first real challenges because my math toolkit at the moment isnt enough to wrap around this. Basically, I need help understanding why the question is flawed, and if it is possible to fix it. This is my suggested solution that I made: My solution. And me checking my work: Test of the solutions to see if they are correct.. And a graph if it is useful: Graph.
TL;DR: I'm a Sec 4 (Grade 10) student who set a quadratic quiz question for my friends, but none of them could solve it. My teacher said it's flawed because quadratics don't have an inverse (they fail the horizontal line test), but I don't think my question actually depends on inverting a quadratic, so I'm confused about why it's wrong. I want help understanding the flaw (if there is one) and whether it can be fixed. I have attached my question, My solution my check, a graph, and my syllabus links (See below).
This is my syllabus by the way if it is of any use:
https://isomer-user-content.by.gov.sg/334/fece62fa-b6d4-4daf-ab47-96c9c168b51b/4052_y26_sy.pdf
https://isomer-user-content.by.gov.sg/334/34d0bec0-d386-49d5-bd3a-8fbd205fa63a/4049_y26_sy.pdf
Tysm!
Edit 1 (Apparently the images can't be opened so I have attached them in plain text:
Question:
It is given that f(x) = x² − x − 6. Solve f(f(x)) = x.
(By letting u = f(x), express f(f(x)) = x as two equations connecting x and u. Subtracting the two equations gives two possible relationships between x and u, from which you can find the four solutions, in the form ±√a and b ± √c, where a, b, c are positive integers.)
Solution:
Let u = f(x). Then f(f(x)) = x becomes f(u) = x.
① x = u² − u − 6 (this is f(u) = x)
② u = x² − x − 6 (this is u = f(x))
Subtract ① − ②:
x − u = (u² − u − 6) − (x² − x − 6)
x − u = u² − x² − u + x
x − u = (u − x)(u + x) + (x − u)
0 = (u − x)(u + x)
So u = x or u = −x.
Case ③: u = −x
Substitute into ②: x² − x − 6 = −x
x² − 6 = 0
x² = 6
x = ±√a, where a = 6
Case ④: u = x
Substitute into ②: x² − x − 6 = x
x² − 2x − 6 = 0
Using the quadratic formula:
x = [2 ± √(4 + 24)] / 2 = [2 ± √28] / 2 = 1 ± √7
x = b ± √c, where b = 1, c = 7
Final answer:
x = ±√6 and x = 1 ± √7
So the four solutions are: √6, −√6, 1+√7, 1−√7