MA1200 Calculus and Basic Linear Algebra I

Lecture Note 7
Continuity of functions

MA1200 Calculus and Basic Linear Algebra I

υ Lecture Note 7: Continuity of functions
What is continuous function?
Roughly speaking, a continuous function
 is a function which the graph
 
 is continuous (no jumps, no breaks).


 

 


(continuous function) (not continuous function)

MA1200 Calculus and Basic Linear Algebra I

φ Lecture Note 7: Continuity of functions
Mathematical definition of continuity

Definition (Continuity of function )

We say a function is continuous at   if both lim
→
 and
  exist
and
lim
 
 .

→

Furthermore, we say a function is continuous on its domain if it is continuous

at every point of its domain.

MA1200 Calculus and Basic Linear Algebra I

χ Lecture Note 7: Continuity of functions
If the condition “lim
→
 
  “ does not satisfy, we say the function is
not continuous at   . For example

lim

 
→ 

lim


→ 

 

lim
 
  lim
   

→
→
 lim
  lim


→
→

MA1200 Calculus and Basic Linear Algebra I

ψ Lecture Note 7: Continuity of functions
Notes on continuity
• Most of the elementary functions such as     ,   
,   cos  ,
  √,   || are all continuous on its domain.

• To check the continuity of a function at   , we may follow the following

Step 1: Compute
 
procedure:

Step 2: Compute lim

→


right-hand limit when computing lim

→
)
(Note: If necessary, one needs to consider the left-hand limit and

Step 3: Compare the limits with
 .

MA1200 Calculus and Basic Linear Algebra I

ω Lecture Note 7: Continuity of functions
Example 1
Consider the function
sin 3

  0

  %  .
2 
  0
Is
 continuous at   0?
☺Solution:
Step 1: First, note that
0  2 by definition.
456 2
0.12→3 78

,* 2
-./ 
-./ 

Step 2: lim
→*
 
+ lim
→*  lim
→* 3   
+ 3 9 1  3.



Step 3: lim
→*
  3  2 
0.
Therefore, we conclude that
 is not continuous at   0.

MA1200 Calculus and Basic Linear Algebra I

ϊ Lecture Note 7: Continuity of functions
Example 2
Consider the function
2 < 1 
 = 1

  ; .
3 
 ? 1
>

Determine whether the function is continuous at   1.

☺Solution:
Step 1: First, note that
1  31>  3.
Step 2: Note that
lim
  lim 2 < 1  3, lim
  lim 3 >  3

→8
→8
→8
→8

So the limits lim

→8
 exists and lim
→8
  3.
Step 3: lim
→8
  3 
1.
Therefore, we conclude that
 is continuous at   1.
MA1200 Calculus and Basic Linear Algebra I
ϋ Lecture Note 7: Continuity of functions
Example 3
Consider the function

 > A 3 A 10

  @ 
  5
A5
C 
  5
where C is real number.
(a) If C  4, is
 continuous at   5?
(b) What is the value of C so that
 is continuous at   5?

MA1200 Calculus and Basic Linear Algebra I

ό Lecture Note 7: Continuity of functions
☺Solution:
(a) Step 1: By definition, we get
5  C  4.
Step 2: For   5, we have
 

E F
F8*
.

FG
 > A 3 A 10  A 5 < 2
lim
  lim  lim  lim  < 2  7.

→G
→G A5
→G A5
→G
Step 3: lim
→G
  7  4 
5.
Hence, the function is not continuous at   5 in this case.

(b) If
 is continuous at   5, then we must have

lim
 
5.

→G

I
C  I
7 .
Using the result in (a), we obtain

JG 0.1 J

K→L

MA1200 Calculus and Basic Linear Algebra I

ύ Lecture Note 7: Continuity of functions
Some properties of continuous functions
Theorem 1 (Basic algebraic operation of continuous functions)
If
 and N be continuous at   , then the function


M
,
 < N,
 A N,
N, 
N   0, |
|

N  
are all continuous at   .

Theorem 2 (Compositon of continuous function)

If
 is continuous at and N is continuous at
 , then the
composition N ∘
 is also continuous at  

lim N ∘
  lim NP
Q  N lim
  NP
 Q.

→
→
→

(*Note: Theorem 2 is quite useful in computing limits)

MA1200 Calculus and Basic Linear Algebra I
υτ Lecture Note 7: Continuity of functions
Example 4
Let
  cos  and N  
are continuous function over the real number.
Using Theorem 1 and 2, we can conclude that the following functions
M
  M cos  ,
 R N  cos  R 

 cos 

N  
cos  , 

 0
N 
|
|  |cos |, N ∘
  NP
Q  Ncos    ST-

are all continuous over real number.

MA1200 Calculus and Basic Linear Algebra I

υυ Lecture Note 7: Continuity of functions
Theorem 3
If
 is a continuous function and N is a function (may not be
continuous), then we have

lim
PNQ 
lim N

→
→

provided that the limits lim

→ N exists.

Example 5

Compute lim
→U sin < cos  C lim
→8 cos
√
VF>

F8

☺Solution:
1st limit
Note that
  sin  is continuous, then

lim sin < cos   sin lim  < cos   sinW A 1 X 0.8415.

→U
→U

MA1200 Calculus and Basic Linear Algebra I

υφ Lecture Note 7: Continuity of functions
2nd limit
Note that N  cos  is continuous, then

√ < 3 A 2 √ < 3 A 2
lim cos  cos Zlim [ … . . ∗

→8 A1
→8 A1
Note that
7
F8
√ < 3 A 2 √ < 3 A 2 √ < 3 < 2 ^_
 <_`_
3 A_a
2>
lim  lim Z [  lim

→8 A1
→8 A1 √ < 3 < 2
→8  A 1P√ < 3 < 2Q

1 11
 lim   .

→8 √ < 3 < 2 √1 < 3 < 2 4
From ∗, we conclude that

√ < 3 A 2 1
lim cos  cos b c  0.9689.

→8 A1 4
MA1200 Calculus and Basic Linear Algebra I
υχ Lecture Note 7: Continuity of functions
Example 6
Let
: g → g be a function (may or may not continuous) such that
J
 U
lim
→*  . Compute the limits

h >
J

C lim
 C i lim 
ST-b c

E

→*
→*

☺Solution:
J
 U
(a) Note that lim
→*
  lim
→*    9 0  0.

h >
(b) Note that the function  ST-

is continuous (see Example 4) and

J
 J
 U
lim
→*  lim
→*   9 0  0.

E
h >
So using Theorem 3, we have
J
 J

ST-b c ST-b0.1 c
lim 
E  K→3
E   ST- *   8  .

→*

MA1200 Calculus and Basic Linear Algebra I

υψ Lecture Note 7: Continuity of functions
Example 7
8 8
(a) Find the limits lim
→* and lim
→* .

8V>j/K
(b) Hence, determine if the limits lim
→*
V>j/K
exists.

☺Solution:
8 8
(a) Using the graph of   , one can see that lim
→*  <∞ and

8
lim
→*  A∞.

(b) We consider the left-hand limits and right-hand limits.

• Left-hand limits
8
When  → 0F , then → A∞. So we have

8 >n 7 8 →*
1 < 28/
1 < 2K→3
1 < 2Fm 1
0.1 >n
lim  8  3 < 2Fm 
+ .

→* 3 < 28/
3
3 < 2K→3

0.1

MA1200 Calculus and Basic Linear Algebra I

υω Lecture Note 7: Continuity of functions
 • Right-hand limits
j
8 8
When  → 0 , then → <∞, 2 → 2Vm  <∞ and hence
V K j  0.

>K
So we have
1
→m
1<2 o8/
8/
< 1 0<1
lim  lim 2   1.

→* 3 < 2
p8/
3 0 < 1

→*
<1
→m 28/

8V>j/K 8V>j/K
Since lim
→*  lim
→*
V>j/K V>j/K
, so we conclude that the limits
1 < 28/

lim

→* 3 < 28/

does not exist.

MA1200 Calculus and Basic Linear Algebra I

υϊ Lecture Note 7: Continuity of functions
Important property of continuous function

Theorem 4 (Intermediate Value Theorem)

If
 is a continuous function on an interval qC, ir and * is a real number
between
C and
i, then there is a number (C s s i) such that

   * .

i

*

C


C i

MA1200 Calculus and Basic Linear Algebra I

υϋ Lecture Note 7: Continuity of functions
The intermediate value theorem is useful in checking whether a given equation
has solution. It provides a way to find the solution of the equation.
Example 8
Consider the equation  G < 2 A 1  0, show that there is a solution between
0 and 1.
☺Solution:
One may rephrase the statement as
“There is a number 0 s u s 1 such that u G < 2u A 1  0.”

We let
   G < 2 A 1 and
 is continuous. By simple calculation, we

get
0  A1 = 0 and
1  2 t 0.
By intermediate value theorem, there is u (0 s u s 1) such that

u  u G < 2u A 1  0.

MA1200 Calculus and Basic Linear Algebra I

υό Lecture Note 7: Continuity of functions
Application of intermediate value theorem: Method of Bisection
• It is a root-finding technique by using intermediate value theorem
repeatedly.
• In Example 8, we have shown that the solution lies between 0 and 1. The
bisection method aims to obtain the solution by narrowing this range.
Step 1:
We pick the mid-point between 0 and 1. That is,   0.5. We compute the
value of
0.5.
Since
0.5  0.03125 t 0, then the solution lies between 0 and 0.5.
Step 2:
We pick the mid-point between 0 and 0.5. That is,   0.25. We compute the
value of
0.25.
Since
0.25  A0.4990 = 0, then the solution lies between 0.25 and 0.5.
MA1200 Calculus and Basic Linear Algebra I
υύ Lecture Note 7: Continuity of functions
One can repeat this process and obtain the approximated solution of the
equation:
Midpoint 
 Updated range of u
0 s u s 0.5
A0.4990 0.25 s u s 0.5
0.5 0.03125

A0.24258 0.375 s u s 0.5

0.25

0.4375 A0.10897 0.4375 s u s 0.5

0.375

A0.03987 0.46875 s u s 0.5

A0.00459 0.484375 s u s 0.5
0.46875

0.484375 s u s 0.492188
0.484375

0.484375 s u s 0.488282
0.492188 0.01326

A0.00014 0.486329 s u s 0.488282

0.488282 0.004319

0.486329 s u s 0.487306
0.486329

0.486329 s u s 0.486818
0.487306 0.00209

0.486329 s u s 0.486574
0.486818 0.000977

0.486329 s u s 0.486452
0.486574 0.000421

The approximated solution is  X 0.486.

0.486452 0.000142

MA1200 Calculus and Basic Linear Algebra I

φτ Lecture Note 7: Continuity of functions