Vertical line test

The vertical line test is a way of determining if a plotted graph is a function.

The vertical line test states that:

A relation is a function iff no vertical line intersects the graph in more than one point.

This is because a function cannot have more than one output for one input.

For example, is a function because any vertical line intersects it in, at most, one point, while is not a function (try the line ).