Practice problems 4 : Continuity and Limit

2x2 −αx−14
1. Find the value of α such that limx→−1 x2 −2x−3
exists. Find the limit.
f (x) f (x)
2. Let limx→0 x2
= 5. Show that limx→0 x = 0.

3. Let f : R → R and x0 ∈ R. Suppose limx→x0 f (x) exists. Show that limx→0 f (x + x0 ) =

4. Let f (x) = |x| for every x ∈ R. Show that f is continuous on R.

5. Let f : [0, π] → R be defined by f (0) = 0 and f (x) = xsin x1 − x1 cos x1 for x 6= 0. Is f

6. Let f, g : R → R be continuous such that given any two points x1 < x2 , there exists a
point x3 such that x1 < x3 < x2 and f (x3 ) = g(x3 ). Show that f (x) = g(x) for all x.

7. Let f (x) = 0 when x is rational and 1 when x is irrational. Determine the points of
continuity for the function f .

8. Let [·] denote the integer part function and f : [0, ∞) → R be defined by f (x) = [x2 ]sinπx.
√
Show that f is continuous at each x 6= n, n = 1, 2, .... Further, show that f is discon-
√
tinuous on {x ∈ [0, ∞) : x = n where n 6= k 2 , for some positive integer k}.

9. Let f : R → (0, ∞) satisfy f (x + y) = f (x)f (y) for all x, y ∈ R. Suppose f is continuous

10. Let f : R → R be a continuous function such that f (x) = f (x2 ) for all x ∈ R. Show that
f is constant.

11. Suppose f : [0, ∞) → R is continuous and limx→∞ f (x) exists. Show that f is bounded on
[0, ∞).

12. (*) Let f : [0, 1] → R be one-one and onto function. Suppose f is continuous. Show that
f −1 is also continuous.

13. (*) Let f : R → R be continuous and f (x + y) = f (x) + f (y) for all x, y ∈ R. Show that
f (x) = f (1)x for all x ∈ R.

14. (*) Let f : (0, 1) → R be given by

if x = pq where p, q ∈ N and p, q have no common factors

(a) Let xn = pqnn ∈ (0, 1) where pn , qn ∈ N and have no common factors. Suppose xn → x
for some x with xn 6= x for all n ∈ N. Show that limn→∞ qn = ∞.
(b) Show that f is continuous at every irrational.
(c) Show that f is discontinuous at every rational.
 Practice Problems 4: Hints/solutions
1. α = 12 and the limit is 4.
f (x) f (x)
2. Note that x = x2
x for x 6= 0.
3. Let limx→x0 f (x) = M for some M ∈ R. Let xn → 0, xn 6= 0 ∀ n. Then xn + x0 → x0 .
Since limx→x0 f (x) = M , f (xn + x0 ) → M . This implies that limx→0 f (x + x0 ) = M .
4. Let x ∈ R and xn → x. Then |xn | → |x|, because, ||xn − |x|| ≤ |xn − x|. Therefore f is
continuous at x.
1 1
5. The function is not continuous at 0, because, xn = 2nπ → 0 but f ( 2nπ ) 9 f (0).
1
6. Fix some x0 ∈ R. For every n, find xn such that x0 − n < xn < x0 and (f − g)(xn ) = 0.
Allow n → ∞ and apply the continuity.
7. Suppose x0 is rational. Find an irrational sequence (xn ) such that xn → x0 . Then
f (xn ) = 1 9 f (x0 ) = 0. Therefore f is not continuous at x0 . Let y0 be rational. Show
that f is not continuous at y0 .
√
8. Case 1: x0 6= n, n = 1, 2, .... It is clear that f is continuous at x0 . Case 2: x0 =
√
n where n = k 2 , for some positive integer k, i.e x0 = k. In this case limx→k+ f (x) =
√
limx→k− f (x) = 0. Case 3: x0 = n where n 6= k 2 , for some positive integer k. In this
√ √
case, limx→√n+ f (x) = nsin(π n) and limx→√n− f (x) = (n − 1)sin(π n).
1
9. Since f (0) = f (0)2 , f (0) = 1 and since f (x − x) = f (0), f (−x) = f (x) . Let x0 ∈ R and
1
xn → x0 . By continuity at 0, f (xn − x0 ) → 1 and hence f (xn ) → f (−x0 ) = f (x0 ).
1 1 1 1
10. Suppose x > 0. By the assumption, f (x) = f (x 2 ) = f (x 22 ) = f (x 2n ). Since x 2n →
1
1, f (x 2n ) → f (1), i.e. f (x) = f (1). Now f (−x) = f ((−x)2 ) = f (x2 ) = f (x). At x = 0, by
continuity, limx→0 f (x) = f (0) = f (1). Therefore f (x) = f (1) for all x ∈ R.
11. Suppose limx→∞ f (x) = β for some β. Then there exists a positive real number M such
that |f (x) − β| < 1 for all x such that x ≥ M . Then |f (x)| ≤ 1 + β for every x such that
x ≥ M . That is f is bounded on {x : x ≥ M }. Also by continuity, f is bounded on [0, M ].
Therefore f is bounded on [0, ∞).
12. Let f (xn ) → f (x0 ) for some xn , x0 ∈ [0, 1]. We show that xn → x0 which proves that
f −1 is continuous. If (xnk ) is any subsequence, then by Bolzano-Weierstrass theorem,
there exists a subsequence (xnki ) such that xnki → α for some α ∈ R. By continuity
f (xnki ) → f (α). By assumption f (α) = f (x0 ) and since f is one-one x0 = α. By Problem
8 of Practice problems 3, xn → x0 .
13. First observe that f (0) = 0 and f (n) = nf (1) for all n ∈ N. Next note that f (−1) = −f (1)
and f (m) = f (1)m for all m ∈ Z. By observing f ( n1 ) = f (1) n1 for all n ∈ N, show that
f(m m
n ) = f (1) n for all m ∈ Z and n ∈ N. Finally take any irrational number x and find
rn ∈ Q such that rn → x and apply the continuity to conclude that f (x) = f (1)x.
14. (a) If for some M ∈ N, qn < M for all n ∈ N, then the set {xn : n ∈ N} is finite which is
not true. Similarly we can show that any subsequence of (qn ) cannot be bounded.
(b) Suppose x0 is rational in (0, 1) and xn → x0 where xn can be rational or irrational.
Apply (a) to show that f (xn ) → 0 = f (x0 ).
(c) Suppose x0 is rational in (0, 1). To show that f is discontinuous at x0 , choose an
irrational sequence (xn ) such that xn → x0 .