Precalculus Examples

$f (x) = {\begin{cases} 4 & x \neq - 1 \\ - 2 & x = - 1 \end{cases}$ Find $f (- 1)$

Step 1

Identify the piece that describes the function at $x = - 1$ . In this case, $x = - 1$ falls within the interval $x = - 1$ , therefore use $- 2$ to evaluate $f (- 1)$ .

$f (x) = {\begin{cases} 4 & x \neq - 1 \\ - 2 & x = - 1 \end{cases}$

Step 2

The function is equal to $- 2$ at $x = - 1$ .

$f (x) = - 2 (]_{x = - 1}^{})$

Step 3

Evaluate the function at $x = - 1$ .

$f (- 1) = - 2$