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

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

From Textbooks • Sep. 23, 2020

Instead, we use the chain rule, which states that the derivative of a composite function is the derivative of the outer function evaluated at the inner function times the derivative of the inner function.

From Textbooks • Mar. 30, 2016

In Example 2.35 we see how to combine this result with the composite function theorem.

From Textbooks • Mar. 30, 2016

Just as functions can be combined to form a composite function, composite functions can be decomposed into simpler functions.

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