Image of Subset under Mapping/Examples/Image of -3 to 2 under x^4-1

Example of Image of Element under Mapping
Let $f: \R \to \R$ be the mapping defined as:


 * $\forall x \in \R: \map f x = x^4 - 1$

The image of the closed interval $\closedint {-3} 2$ is:


 * $f \closedint {-3} 2 = \closedint {-1} {80}$

Proof
Trivially, by differentiating $x^4 - 1$ $x$:
 * $f' = 4 x^3$

and equating $f'$ to $0$, the minimum of $\Img f$ is seen to occur at $\map f 0 = -1$.

As $0 \in \closedint {-3} 2$, it can be seen that the minimum of $f \closedint {-3} 2$ is $-1$.

As $f$ is strictly increasing on $x > 0$ and strictly decreasing on $x < 0$, it suffices to inspect the images of the endpoints $-3$ and $2$.

Thus:
 * $\map f {-3} = \paren {-3}^4 - 1 = 81 - 1 = 80$


 * $\map f 2 = 2^4 - 1 = 16 - 1 = 15$

The result follows.