Answer:
To determine whether the function f(x) = x^2 - 3 is one-to-one or not, we need to check whether different values of x in the domain of the function produce different values of y.
Assume that there exist two different values x1 and x2 such that f(x1) = f(x2). Then, we have:
x1^2 - 3 = x2^2 - 3
Adding 3 to both sides, we get:
x1^2 = x2^2
Taking the square root of both sides, we get:
|x1| = |x2|
Therefore, we can see that there are two possible cases:
If x1 = x2, then f(x1) = f(x2), which means the function is not one-to-one.
If x1 ≠ x2 but |x1| = |x2|, then f(x1) = f(x2), which means the function is not one-to-one.
Therefore, we can conclude that the function f(x) = x^2 - 3 is not one-to-one. This is because different values of x can produce the same value of y. For example, both f(2) and f(-2) give the same value of 1. Therefore, the function is not invertible, and its inverse cannot be uniquely defined.