Mathematics Preparatory Course 2025

Handout 1

Basic Mathematics

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Basic Mathematics

Topic 1: Basic Mathematics

Sets
Real Number System
Surds and Logarithm
Simultaneous Equations
Functions
Polynomials

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1.1 Sets
Set and Element
A set is simply a collection of distinct objects. These objects may be a
group of (distinct) numbers, or something else. The objects in a set are
called the elements of the set.

There are two alternative ways of writing a set: by enumeration and by

description.
If we let S represent the set of three elements 1, 3, and 5, we can write, by
enumeration of the elements,

S = {1, 3, 5}.

But if we let I denote the set of all positive integers, enumeration becomes
difficult, and we may instead simply describe the elements and write

I = {x|x a positive integer}.

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1.1 Sets

Finite set and infinite set

A set with a finite number of elements, examplified by set S above, is
called a finite set.
Set I with an infinite number of elements, is, on the other hand, an
example of an infinite set .

Membership in a set
Membership in a set is indicated by the symbol ∈ (a variant of the Greek
letter epsilon ϵ for “element”), which is read: “is an element of”.
For the two sets S and I defined above, we may write

1∈S 3∈S 8∈I 10 ∈ I etc.

But obviously 8 ∈
/ S (read: “8 is not an element of set S”).

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1.1 Sets

Relationships between Sets

When two sets are compared with each other, several possible kinds of
relationship may be observed.
If two sets S1 and S2 happen to contain identical elements,

S1 = {2, 7, a, f } and S2 = {2, a, 7, f }

then S1 and S2 are said to be equal (S1 = S2 ).

If we have two sets

S = {1, 3, 5, 7, 9} and T = {3, 7}

then T is a subset of S, because every element of T is also an

element of S. A more formal statement is: T is a subset of S if and
only if “x ∈ T ” implies that “x ∈ S”.

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1.1 Sets

Relationships between Sets (Continued)

Using the set inclusion symbols ⊂ (is contained in) and ⊃ (includes), we
may then write
T ⊂S or S ⊃ T.

The “largest” possible subset of S is, namely, S itself. The “smallest”

possible subset of S is a set that contains no element at all. Such a set is
called the null set, or empty set, denoted by symbol ∅ or {}.
In general, if a set has n elements, a total of 2n subsets can be formed from
those elements.
As a third type of relationship, two sets may have no elements in common at
all. In this case, the two sets are said to be disjoint.
A fourth type of relationship occurs when two sets have some elements in
common but some elements peculiar to each. In that event, the two sets are
neither equal nor disjoint; also, neither set is a subset of the other.

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1.1 Sets

Operations on Sets
Three principal operations to be discussed involve the union, intersection, and
complement of sets.
To take the union of two sets A and B means to form a new set containing
those elements (and only those elements) belonging to A, or to B, or to
both A and B. The union set is symbolized by A ∪ B (read: “A union B”).

Union : A ∪ B = {x|x ∈ A or x ∈ B}.

The intersection of two sets A and B is a new set which contains those
elements (and only those elements) belonging to both A and B. The
intersection set is symbolized by A ∩ B (read: “A intersection B”).

Intersection : A ∩ B = {x|x ∈ A and x ∈ B}.

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1.1 Sets

Operations on Sets (Continued)

Three principal operations to be discussed involve the union, intersection, and
complement of sets.
Universal set: A universal set U is the set containing all objects or elements
and of which all other sets are subsets.
The complement of a set: With a given set, say A, we can define another
set à (read: “the complement of A”) as the set that contains all the
elements in the universal set U which are not in the set A. That is,

à = {x|x ∈ U and x ∈
/ A}.

Ũ = ∅.
Note that, whereas the symbol ∪ has the connotation “or” and the symbol
“∩” means “and,” the complement symbol ∼ carries the implication of
“not.”

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1.1 Sets

Laws of Set Operations

The commutative law (of unions and intersections):

A∪B =B ∪A A ∩ B = B ∩ A.

The associative law (of unions and intersections):

A ∪ (B ∪ C ) = (A ∪ B) ∪ C A ∩ (B ∩ C ) = (A ∩ B) ∩ C .

The distributive law (of unions and intersections):

A ∪ (B ∩ C ) = (A ∪ B) ∩ (A ∪ C ) A ∩ (B ∪ C ) = (A ∩ B) ∪ (A ∩ C ).

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1.2 Real Number System

The number system consists of a few kinds of numbers.

Natural numbers
The first type is called the natural numbers, denoted by

N = natural numbers = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, . . . .}

Some mathematicians regard the number 0 as one of the natural numbers.

Integers
After many years, zero and negative numbers were invented. Hence we
have the set of integers, denoted by

Z = integers = {. . . , −3, −2, −1, 0, 1, 2, 3, . . . .}

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1.2 Real Number System

Rational numbers
Rational numbers include all fractions with integers as its numerator and
denominator (denominator must be non zero). That is, the rational
numbers are defined as
 
p
Q = rational numbers = |p, q ∈ Z, q ̸= 0.
q

Comments on rational numbers

The rational number system has certain gaps, in spite of the fact that
between any two rationals there is another:

If r < s, then r < (r + s)/2 < s.

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1.2 Real Number System

π and e are not rational numbers but irrational numbers.

Irrational numbers
An irrational number is a real number that cannot be written as a fraction
of two integers.

Real numbers
There exists an ordered field R which has the least-upper-bound property.
Moreover, R contains Q as a subfield. The members of R are called real
numbers.
R = real numbers.

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1.3 Surds and Logarithm
Suppose a ∈ Q.
The power of a rational number
The power of a rational number arises as a short form to denote the
number of times it is multiplied by itself.

an = a × a × · · · × a, multiplied n times, where n is a natural number.

The negative power of a rational number

To denote division (assuming a ̸= 0), the negative power is introduced:

1 1
a−n = = n , where n ∈ N.
a × a × ··· × a a

For convenience, the power zero is assigned the value 1. That is

a0 = 1, for all a ∈ Q.
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1.3 Surds and Logarithm
Suppose a ∈ Q.
Reciprocal power
From integer powers, there arises reciprocal powers. For example
(assuming a ≥ 0),
1 √
an = n
a denotes the numerical solution of x n = a where n ∈ N.

Fractional power
From reciprocal powers, there arises fractional powers. Given a rational
p
number a ∈ Q+0 and a fraction q , we have

p √
q √
p
aq = ap = q
a .

With fractional powers, the entire set of surds is defined. Surds are
√
numbers left in root form ( ) to express its exact value. It has an infinite
number of non-recurring decimals. Therefore, surds are irrational numbers.
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1.3 Surds and Logarithm

Lemma 1 (Properties of Indices)

Let a, b, m, n ∈ Q, and a, b ≥ 0. The power of rational numbers satisfies the
following properties:

am × b m = (ab)m , am × an = am+n .

am
= am−n for a ̸= 0.
an

a0 = 1, a1 = a, 0m = 0 except when m ≤ 0.

1m = 1.

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1.3 Surds and Logarithm

Logarithms arise from the need to denote solutions to equations such as

ax = b, where a, b ∈ Q+
0.

In this case we denote

x = loga b.
We call this ‘log b to base a’.

Although log can be of any base, two popular bases are base 10 and base
e. We denote
log10 a = lg a.
loge a = ln a = log a.

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1.3 Surds and Logarithm

Lemma 2 (Properties of Logarithms)

Let m, n ∈ Q, and a, b ∈ Q+
0 . The logarithm function satisfies the following
properties:

logm an = n logm a, logm a + logm b = logm (a × b).

Change of base
logn a
logm a = for n ̸= 0.
logn m

1
logm 1 = 0, logm m = 1, logm = − logm a for a ̸= 0.
a

aloga b = b. In particular e log b = b. loga ab = b. In particular log e b = b.

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1.4 Simultaneous Equations
An equation specifies a condition that a set of variables must meet. For
example,

x 2 + x − 2 = 0, x 2 = −1, x 2 + y 2 − 2z = 0.

Simultaneous equations
Very often a set of variables need to satisfy not just one condition, but a
few conditions simultaneously. In such case, with each condition specified
as an equation, we form a set of simultaneous equations.

For example, 
 x + 3y = 18
 x − 5y = 2

The solution of the set of simultaneous equations must satisfy all the
equations.
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1.5 Functions

Definition
A function f is a rule that assigns to each element x in a set D exactly
one element, called f (x), in a set E .

Definition
The set D is called the domain of the function. E is called the codomain.
The range of f is the set of all possible values of f (x) as x varies
throughout the domain.

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1.5 Functions
Example 2
Find the domain of each function.
√ 1
(a) f (x) = x +2 (b) g (x) =
x2 − x
Solution
Because the square root of a negative number is not defined (as a real
number), the domain of f consists of all values of x such that x + 2 ≥ 0.
This is equivalent to x ≥ −2, so the domain is the interval [−2, ∞).
Since division by 0 is not allowed, we see that g (x) is not defined when
x = 0 or x = 1. Thus the domain of g is
{x|x ̸= 0, x ̸= 1}
which could also be written in interval notation as
(−∞, 0) ∪ (0, 1) ∪ (1, ∞).

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1.5 Functions

Definition
A function is said to be one-to-one or injective if

for all x1 , x2 ∈ X , then f (x1 ) = f (x2 ) ⇐⇒ x1 = x2 .

A function is said to be onto or surjective if

for all y ∈ X , there exists x ∈ X such that f (x) = y .

i.e. Codomain = Range.

A function is said to be bijective if it is both injective and surjective.

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1.5 Functions: Increasing and decreasing functions

Definition
A function is said to be monotone increasing if

for all x1 , x2 ∈ X , such that x1 < x2 then f (x1 ) ≤ f (x2 ).

A function is said to be strictly increasing if

for all x1 , x2 ∈ X , such that x1 < x2 then f (x1 ) < f (x2 ).

A function is said to be monotone decreasing if

for all x1 , x2 ∈ X , such that x1 < x2 then f (x1 ) ≥ f (x2 ).

A function is said to be strictly decreasing if

for all x1 , x2 ∈ X , such that x1 < x2 then f (x1 ) > f (x2 ).

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1.5 Functions: Even and odd functions
Even function
If a function f satisfies f (−x) = f (x) for every number x in its domain,
then f is called an even function.

Odd function
If a function f satisfies f (−x) = −f (x) for every number x in its domain,
then f is called an odd function.
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1.5 Functions: Piecewise defined functions
The functions are defined by different formulas in different parts of their domains.
Such functions are called piecewise defined functions.

Absolute value function

The absolute value function | · |: R → R is the function defined by the rule

 a, if a ≥ 0
|a| =
 −a, if a < 0

Note that the absolute value of a number a, denoted by |a|, is the distance from a
to 0 on the real number line.

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1.5 Functions: Piecewise defined functions
Exercise
The ReLU function
The ReLU (Rectified Linear Unit) function is a widely used activation function in
artificial neural networks, particularly in deep learning. It is a key component in
modern deep learning architectures, such as convolutional neural networks
(CNNs) and deep neural networks (DNNs).
The ReLU function is defined as

ReLU(x) = max(0, x).

Draw the graph of the ReLU function.

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1.5 Functions: Piecewise defined functions
Exercise
The LeLU function
The LeLU function, also known as the Leaky ReLU (Rectified Linear Unit), is
a variant of the ReLU activation function commonly used in neural networks.
The Leaky ReLU function is defined as

 x, if x > 0
LeLU(x) =
 αx, if x ≤ 0

where α is a small positive constant, typically set to a value like 0.01. Draw the
graph of the LeLU function.

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1.5 Functions: Composite functions

Definition (The composite function)

Let f : X → Y and g : Y → Z be functions where f is onto. Define the
composite function of f then g as h : X → Z such that

h(x) = g (f (x)).

Notation-wise, we write h = g ◦ f and h(x) = g ◦ f (x).

The domain of g ◦ f is the set of all x in the domain of f such that f (x) is in the
domain of g . That is to say

Dom(g ◦ f ) = {x ∈ Dom(f )|f (x) ∈ Dom(g )}

It is possible to take the composition of three or more functions. For instance, the
composite function h ◦ g ◦ f is found by first applying f , then g , and then h as
follows:
(h ◦ g ◦ f )(x) = h(g (f (x)))
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1.5 Functions: Composite functions
Example 3
x+1
Let f (x) = x+2 and g (x) = x + x1 . Find the function f ◦ g and its domain.

Solution We have
1
1 x+ x +1
(f ◦ g )(x) = f (g (x)) = f (x + )= 1 .
x x+ x +2
1
Its domain is that D = {x ∈ R|x ̸= 0, x + x + 2 ̸= 0} = R − {−1, 0}.
Alternatively, to find the domain of f ◦ g , note that Dom(f )=R − {−2} and
Dom(g )=R − {0}. The rule we will apply is that
Dom(f ◦ g ) = {x ∈ Dom(g )|g (x) ∈ Dom(f )}
Examining this rule we see that we just need to start with Dom(g ) and remove
from it those x ∈ Dom(g ) such that g (x) ∈
/ Dom(f ), i.e. x such that g (x) = −2.
The points we need to remove from Dom(g ) are the x such that
g (x) = x + 1/x = −2. This equation has one solution: x = −1. In conclusion:
Dom(f ◦ g ) = Dom(g ) − {−1} = R − {−1, 0}.
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1.5 Functions: Inverse function
Definition
Given a bijective function f : X → Y , the inverse function denoted by
f −1 : Y → X is such that for all f (x) = y , then f −1 (y ) = x.

Example 4
Let f (x) = 2x+1
3x−1 . Find the inverse function f −1 .
2x+1
Solution We have f : x 7→ y = 3x−1 . Hence
2x + 1 y +1
y= =⇒ (3x − 1)y = 2x + 1 =⇒ x(3y − 2) = y + 1 =⇒ x = .
3x − 1 3y − 2
Since f −1 : y 7→ x, therefore
y +1
f −1 : y 7→.
3y − 2
Since y is only a dummy variable, therefore we may swap y with x. Thus,
x +1
f −1 : x 7→ .
3x − 2
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1.5 Functions: A catalog of essential functions

Polynomials
A function P is called a polynomial if

P(x) = an x n + an−1 x n−1 + · · · + a2 x 2 + a1 x + a0

where n is a nonnegative integer and the numbers a0 , a1 , a2 , · · · , an are

constants called the coefficients of the polynomial.

The domain of any polynomial is R = (−∞, ∞). If the leading coefficient

an ̸= 0, then the degree of the polynomial is n.

A polynomial of degree 1 is of the form P(x) = mx + b and so it is a linear

function. A polynomial of degree 2 is of the form P(x) = ax 2 + bx + c
and is called a quadratic function. A polynomial of degree 3 is of the form
P(x) = ax 3 + bx 2 + cx + d (a ̸= 0) and is called a cubic function.

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1.5 Functions: A catalog of essential functions
Power functions
A function of the form f (x) = x a , where a is a constant, is called a power
function.

Rational functions
A rational function f is a ratio of two polynomials:

P(x)
f (x) =
Q(x)

where P and Q are polynomials. The domain consists of all values of x such that
Q(x) ̸= 0.

Algebraic functions
A function is called an algebraic function if it can be constructed using algebraic
operations (such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and taking
roots) starting with polynomials.
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1.5 Functions: A catalog of essential functions
Trigonometric functions
There are 6 trigonometric functions: sine, cosine, tangent, cosecant,
secant, and cotangent functions.

For both the sine and cosine functions the domain is (−∞, ∞) and the range is
the closed interval [−1, 1]. An important property of the sine and cosine functions
is that they are periodic functions and have period 2π.
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1.5 Functions: A catalog of essential functions

Trigonometric functions (Continued)

There are 6 trigonometric functions: sine, cosine, tangent, cosecant,
secant, and cotangent functions.

The cosecant, secant, and cotangent functions are the reciprocals of the sine,
cosine, and tangent functions, respectively.
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1.5 Functions: A catalog of essential functions

Exponential functions
The exponential functions are the functions of the form f (x) = b x , where
the base b is a positive constant (b ̸= 1).

The graphs of y = 2x and y = (0.5)x are shown below. In both cases the
domain is (−∞, ∞) and the range is (0, ∞).

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1.5 Functions: A catalog of essential functions
Logarithmic functions
The logarithmic functions are the functions of the form f (x) = logb x,
where the base b is a positive constant (b ̸= 1). They are the inverse
functions of the exponential functions.

The graphs of y = logb x (b = 2, 3, 5, 10) are shown below. In each case

the domain is (0, ∞) and the range is (−∞, ∞).

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1.5 Functions: A catalog of essential functions

Example 5
Classify the following functions as one of the types of functions that we
have discussed.
1+x
(a) f (x) = 5x (b) g (x) = x 5 (c) h(x) = √
1− x
(d) u(t) = 1 − t + 5t 4

Solution
f (x) = 5x is an exponential function. The x is the exponent.

g (x) = x 5 is a power function. The x is the base. We could also consider it

to be a polynomial of degree 5.

h(x) is an algebraic function.

u(t) = 1 − t + 5t 4 is a polynomial of degree 4.

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1.5 Functions: Transformations of functions

Vertical and Horizontal shifts

Suppose c > 0. To obtain the graph of

y = f (x) + c, shift the graph of y = f (x) a distance c units upward

y = f (x) − c, shift the graph of y = f (x) a distance c units downward

y = f (x − c), shift the graph of y = f (x) a distance c units to the right

y = f (x + c), shift the graph of y = f (x) a distance c units to the left

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1.5 Functions: Transformations of functions
Vertical and Horizontal shifts

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1.5 Functions: Transformations of functions

Vertical and Horizontal stretching and reflecting

Suppose c > 1. To obtain the graph of

y = cf (x), stretch the graph of y = f (x) vertically by a factor of c

y = (1/c)f (x), shrink the graph of y = f (x) vertically by a factor of c

y = f (cx), shrink the graph of y = f (x) horizontally by a factor of c

y = f (x/c), stretch the graph of y = f (x) horizontally by a factor of c

y = −f (x), reflect the graph of y = f (x) about the x-axis

y = f (−x), reflect the graph of y = f (x) about the y -axis

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1.5 Functions: Transformations of functions
Vertical and Horizontal stretching and reflecting

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1.5 Functions: Transformations of functions

Figure below illustrates these stretching transformations when applied to

the cosine function with c = 2.

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1.6 Polynomials

Polynomials
A function P is called a polynomial if

P(x) = an x n + an−1 x n−1 + · · · + a2 x 2 + a1 x + a0

where n is a nonnegative integer and the numbers a0 , a1 , a2 , · · · , an are

constants called the coefficients of the polynomial.

For example, P(x) = x 2 − 4x + 3 is a degree 2 polynomial.

Very often we need to factorize a polynomial into its factors, such as
P(x) = x 2 − 4x + 3 = (x − 3)(x − 1). The (x − 3) and (x − 1) are called
factors of x 2 − 4x + 3.

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1.6 Polynomials
We have the following theorem and corollary which can help us identify factors of
a polynomial.
Theorem (Remainder Theorem)
Let f (x) be a real polynomial. The remainder of f (x) when divided by the
expression (x − a) is given by f (a).

Corollary (Factor Theorem)

Let f (x) be a real polynomial. The expression (x − a) where a ∈ R is a factor of
f (x) if and only if f (a) = 0.

Suppose we need to factorize an n degree polynomial

P(x) = an x n + an−1 x n−1 + · · · + a2 x 2 + a1 x + a0 . First, we may test whether
(ax − b) is a factor of f (x). For (ax − b) to be a factor of f (x), a must be a
factor of an and b must be a factor of a0 , therefore this limits our test choices.
We may use the factor theorem for this test so as to reduce our number of steps.
Once we find a factor of f (x), we use long division to reduce f (x) by 1 degree.
We then repeat the above steps until the polynomial is satisfactorily factorized.
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1.6 Polynomials

Example 6
Factorize
P(x) = −x 3 − 3x 2 + 4.

Solution: Possible factors are (x − 1), (x + 1), (x − 2), (x + 2), (x − 4),

and (x + 4).
Suppose we pick on testing (x + 1). We have P(−1) = 1 − 3 + 4 = 2.
Thus (x + 1) is not a factor of P(x).
Next we pick on testing (x − 1). We have P(1) = −1 − 3 + 4 = 0. Thus
(x − 1) is a factor of P(x).
We then perform the long division on (x − 1). The quotient is
(−x 2 − 4x − 4). Hence

−x 3 − 3x 2 + 4 = (x − 1)(−x 2 − 4x − 4) = −(x − 1)(x + 2)2 .

We have completely factorized P(x) = −x 3 − 3x 2 + 4.

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Additional Questions
Question 1
Let f (x) = ax+b
cx+d . Under what conditions f (x) = f −1 (x)?

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Additional Questions
Question 2
Let f (x) be defined on the closed interval [−a, a], prove that f can be
expressed as the sum of an odd function and an even function. And show
that there is only one way to write f as the sum of an even and an odd
function.

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