Two functions f and g are defined on the set R of real numbers by \(f : x \to 2x - 1\) and \(g : x \to x^{2} + 1\). Find the value of \(f^{-1} \circ g(3)\).

Two functions f and g are defined on the set R of real numbers by \(f : x \to 2x - 1\) and \(g : x \to x^{2} + 1\). Find the value of \(f^{-1} \circ g(3)\).

Answer Details

We first need to find the composition \(f^{-1} \circ g(x)\), which means we need to find the inverse function of f, denoted by \(f^{-1}(x)\). To find \(f^{-1}(x)\), we solve the equation \(y = 2x - 1\) for x: \(y + 1 = 2x\) \(x = \frac{y + 1}{2}\) Thus, \(f^{-1}(x) = \frac{x + 1}{2}\). Now, we can find \(f^{-1} \circ g(3)\) by first computing g(3): \(g(3) = 3^{2} + 1 = 10\) Then, we can plug g(3) into the composition \(f^{-1} \circ g(x)\): \((f^{-1} \circ g)(3) = f^{-1}(g(3)) = f^{-1}(10) = \frac{10 + 1}{2} = \frac{11}{2}\) Therefore, the value of \(f^{-1} \circ g(3)\) is \(\frac{11}{2}\), which is the correct answer.