In
mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
, the horizontal line test is a test used to determine whether a
function is
injective
In mathematics, an injective function (also known as injection, or one-to-one function) is a function that maps distinct elements of its domain to distinct elements; that is, implies . (Equivalently, implies in the equivalent contrapositi ...
(i.e., one-to-one).
In calculus
A ''horizontal line'' is a straight, flat line that goes from left to right. Given a function
(i.e. from the
real numbers
In mathematics, a real number is a number that can be used to measure a ''continuous'' one-dimensional quantity such as a distance, duration or temperature. Here, ''continuous'' means that values can have arbitrarily small variations. Every re ...
to the real numbers), we can decide if it is
injective
In mathematics, an injective function (also known as injection, or one-to-one function) is a function that maps distinct elements of its domain to distinct elements; that is, implies . (Equivalently, implies in the equivalent contrapositi ...
by looking at horizontal lines that intersect the function's
graph. If any horizontal line
intersects the graph in more than one point, the function is not injective. To see this, note that the points of intersection have the same y-value (because they lie on the line
) but different x values, which by definition means the function cannot be injective.
Variations of the horizontal line test can be used to determine whether a function is
surjective
In mathematics, a surjective function (also known as surjection, or onto function) is a function that every element can be mapped from element so that . In other words, every element of the function's codomain is the image of one element o ...
or
bijective
In mathematics, a bijection, also known as a bijective function, one-to-one correspondence, or invertible function, is a function between the elements of two sets, where each element of one set is paired with exactly one element of the other ...
:
*The function ''f'' is surjective (i.e., onto)
if and only if
In logic and related fields such as mathematics and philosophy, "if and only if" (shortened as "iff") is a biconditional logical connective between statements, where either both statements are true or both are false.
The connective is bic ...
its graph intersects any horizontal line at least once.
*''f'' is bijective if and only if any horizontal line will intersect the graph exactly once.
In set theory
Consider a function
with its corresponding
graph as a subset of the
Cartesian product
In mathematics, specifically set theory, the Cartesian product of two sets ''A'' and ''B'', denoted ''A''×''B'', is the set of all ordered pairs where ''a'' is in ''A'' and ''b'' is in ''B''. In terms of set-builder notation, that is
: A\t ...
. Consider the horizontal lines in
:
. The function ''f'' is
injective
In mathematics, an injective function (also known as injection, or one-to-one function) is a function that maps distinct elements of its domain to distinct elements; that is, implies . (Equivalently, implies in the equivalent contrapositi ...
if and only if
In logic and related fields such as mathematics and philosophy, "if and only if" (shortened as "iff") is a biconditional logical connective between statements, where either both statements are true or both are false.
The connective is bic ...
each horizontal line intersects the graph at most once. In this case the graph is said to pass the horizontal line test. If any horizontal line intersects the graph more than once, the function fails the horizontal line test and is not injective.
See also
*
Vertical line test
In mathematics, the vertical line test is a visual way to determine if a curve is a graph of a function or not. A function can only have one output, ''y'', for each unique input, ''x''. If a vertical line intersects a curve on an ''xy''-plane mor ...
*
Inverse function
*
Monotonic function
In mathematics, a monotonic function (or monotone function) is a function between ordered sets that preserves or reverses the given order. This concept first arose in calculus, and was later generalized to the more abstract setting of order ...
References
{{reflist
Basic concepts in set theory