composite function

American  

noun

Mathematics.

1. a function obtained from two given functions, where the range of one function is contained in the domain of the second function, by assigning to an element in the domain of the first function that element in the range of the second function whose inverse image is the image of the element.

---

Etymology

Origin of composite function

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

To evaluate a composite function, we always start by evaluating the inner function and then evaluate the outer function in terms of the inner function.

From Textbooks • Sep. 23, 2020

For the following exercises, use the functions and to evaluate or find the composite function as indicated.

From Textbooks • Sep. 23, 2020

A composite function g ∘ f can be viewed in two steps.

From Textbooks • Mar. 30, 2016

We can then evaluate the composite function by looking to the graph of finding the input of 3 on the axis and reading the output value of the graph at this input.

From Textbooks • Feb. 13, 2015

He proposed that every feature in a human—height, weight, intelligence, beauty—was a composite function generated by a conserved pattern of ancestral inheritance.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee