For more details on this topic, see functional notation.
A function f with domain X and codomain Y is commonly denoted by
fcolon X
ightarrow Y
or
X stackrel f
ightarrow Y.
In this context, the elements of X are called arguments of f. For each argument x, the corresponding unique y in the codomain is called the function value at x or the image of x under f. It is written as f(x). One says that f associates y with x or maps x to y. This is abbreviated by
y = f(x).
A general function is often denoted by f. Special functions have names, for example, the signum function is denoted by sgn. Given a real number x, its image under the signum function is then written as sgn(x). Here, the argument is denoted by the symbol x, but different symbols may be used in other contexts. For example, in physics, the velocity of some body, depending on the time, is denoted v(t). The parentheses around the argument may be omitted when there is little chance of confusion, thus: sin x; this is known as prefix notation.
In order to denote a specific function, the notation mapsto (an arrow with a bar at its tail) is used. For example, the above function reads
egin{align}
fcolon mathbb{N} & o mathbb{Z} \
x &mapsto 4-x.
end{align}
The first part can be read as:
"f is a function from ℕ (the set of natural numbers) to ℤ (the set of integers)" or
"f is a ℤ-valued function of an ℕ-valued variable".
The second part is read:
"x maps to 4−x."
In other words, this function has the natural numbers as domain, the integers as codomain. Strictly speaking, a function is properly defined only when the domain and codomain are specified. For example, the formula f(x) = 4 − x alone (without specifying the codomain and domain) is not a properly defined function. Moreover, the function
egin{align}
gcolon mathbb{Z} & o mathbb{Z} \
x &mapsto 4-x.
end{align}
(with different domain) is not considered the same function, even though the formulas defining f and g agree, and similarly with a different codomain. Despite that, many authors drop the specification of the domain and codomain, especially if these are clear from the context. So in this example many just write f(x) = 4 − x. Sometimes, the maximal possible domain is also understood implicitly: a formula such as scriptstyle f(x)=sqrt{x^2-5x+6} may mean that the domain of f is the set of real numbers x where the square root is defined (in this case x ≤ 2 or x ≥ 3).[5]
To define a function, sometimes a dot notation is used in order to emphasize the functional nature of an expression without assigning a special symbol to the variable. For instance, scriptstyle a(cdot)^2 stands for the function extstyle xmapsto ax^2, scriptstyle int_a^{, cdot} f(u)du stands for the integral function scriptstyle xmapsto int_a^x f(u)du, and so on.