Evaluate a function

Evaluating a function is sort of like Ron Burgundy; they're both kind of a big deal...

Now that we know what functions are and can identify independent and dependent variables, we need to know how to evaluate functions. Evaluating functions is all about inputs and outputs. When we are given a function like f(x) = 2x+1, we can evaluate it for different inputs. For instance, let's say we wanted to evaluate this function at x = 5. This means we want to know what the output is if we plug in a 5 for x. Evaluating the function would look like this for x = 5.

f(x) = 2x+1

f(5) = 2(5)+1

f(5) = 10+1

f(5) = 11

By plugging in a 5, we got out an 11. So when we evaluated this function with an input of 5, our output was 11.