Representations of Functions

There are four possible ways to represent a function:

• verbally (by a description in words)

• numerically (by a table of values)

• visually (by a graph)

• algebraically (by an explicit formula)

If a single function can be represented in all four ways, it is often useful to go from one representation to another to gain additional insight into the function. But certain functions are described more naturally by one method than by another.