Are there two real-valued functions defined on the same subset of $\mathbb{R}$ that commute with each other but are not inverses of each other? (After several responses, I have to make an edit to my post. Neither function should be the identity function nor the zero function. The two functions should not be the same function.)
An example of two functions commuting with each other
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abstract-algebra
algebra-precalculus
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1$f:x\mapsto x$, $g:x\mapsto 2x$ ? – 2017-02-02
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0$f(x)=0$ for all $x\in\mathbb{R}$ and $g:\mathbb{R}\to\mathbb{R}$ any function with $g(0)=0$. – 2017-02-02
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2$f(x)=x^3$, and $g(x)=x^4$. – 2017-02-02
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0@dxiv I wanted examples of functions defined on $\mathbb{R}$. Remember, one of the tags is pre-Calculus. – 2017-02-02
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0@user74973 The [accepted answer](http://math.stackexchange.com/a/11442/291201) to that question is about real functions - polynomials and rational functions, with the Chebyshev polynomials being a classic example. The question is indeed interesting (and I actually +1'd it) but it's hard to give a better answer without shamelessly copy/pasting the other answer. – 2017-02-02
4 Answers
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You can use $f, g \colon \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}$ with $f(x) = \pi \, x$ and $g(x) = \mathrm{e} \, x$.
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$f$ commutes with itself, just take $f$ so that $f\circ f$ is not the identity.
for another example, take $f$ and $f\circ f$, and let $f$ be any function such that $f\circ f$ and $f\circ f \circ f$ are not the identity.
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0I forgot to exclude that case. – 2017-02-02
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0done${}{}{}{}{}$ – 2017-02-02
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For example $f(x)=x^m\,$, $\,g(x)=x^n\,$.
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0For example, $m=2$ and $n=1/3$. – 2017-02-02
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0@user74973 That works, but in general you may need to restrict the domain to $\mathbb{R}^+\,$ once you take non-integer exponents, for example $m=3, n=1/2\,$. – 2017-02-02
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0Yep. I was careful in my choices. – 2017-02-02
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$f(x)=x$ and $g(x)=1/x$ for $x \in (0, \infty)$
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0I forgot to exclude the case that one of the functions is the identity function. – 2017-02-02