MATH 409

Advanced Calculus I
Lecture 12:
Uniform continuity.
Exponential functions.
Uniform continuity

Definition. A function f : E → R defined on a set

E ⊂ R is called uniformly continuous on E if for
every ε > 0 there exists δ = δ(ε) > 0 such that
|x − y | < δ and x, y ∈ E imply |f (x) − f (y )| < ε.

Recall that the function f is continuous at a point

y ∈ E if for every ε > 0 there exists
δ = δ(y , ε) > 0 such that |x − y | < δ and x ∈ E
imply |f (x) − f (y )| < ε.

Therefore the uniform continuity of f is a stronger

property than the continuity of f on E .
Examples
• Constant function f (x) = a is uniformly
continuous on R.
Indeed, |f (x) − f (y )| = 0 < ε for any ε > 0 and x, y ∈ R.

• Identity function f (x) = x is uniformly

continuous on R.
Since f (x) − f (y ) = x − y , we have |f (x) − f (y )| < ε
whenever |x − y | < ε.

• The sine function f (x) = sin x is uniformly

continuous on R.
It was shown in the previous lecture that
| sin x − sin y | ≤ |x − y | for all x, y ∈ R. Therefore
|f (x) − f (y )| < ε whenever |x − y | < ε.
Lipschitz functions

Definition. A function f : E → R is called a

Lipschitz function if there exists a constant L > 0
such that |f (x) − f (y )| ≤ L|x − y | for all x, y ∈ E .

• Any Lipschitz function is uniformly continuous.

Using notation of the definition, let δ(ε) = ε/L, ε > 0.
Then |x − y | < δ(ε) implies
|f (x) − f (y )| ≤ L|x − y | < Lδ(ε) = ε
for all x, y ∈ E .
 √
• The function f (x) = x is uniformly
continuous on [0, ∞) but not Lipschitz.
p √
For any n ∈ N, |f (1/n) − f (0)| = 1/n = n |1/n − 0|.
It follows that f is not Lipschitz.
Given ε > 0, let δ = ε2 . Suppose |x − y | < δ, where
x, y ≥ 0. To estimate |f (x) − f (y )|, we consider two cases.
In the case x, y ∈ [0, δ), we use the fact that f is√strictly
increasing. Then |f (x) − f (y )| < f (δ) − f (0) = δ = ε.
Otherwise, when x ∈ / [0, δ) or y ∈/ [0, δ), we have
max(x, y ) ≥ δ. Then
√
 
√ √  x −y  |x − y | δ
| x − y| = √  √  ≤ p < √ = δ = ε.
x+ y max(x, y ) δ
Thus f is uniformly continuous.
 • The function f (x) = x 2 is not uniformly
continuous on R.
Let ε = 2 and choose an arbitrary δ > 0. Let nδ be a natural
number such that 1/nδ < δ. Further, let xδ = nδ + 1/nδ and
yδ = nδ . Then |xδ − yδ | = 1/nδ < δ while
f (xδ ) − f (yδ ) = (nδ + 1/nδ )2 − nδ2 = 2 + 1/nδ2 > ε.
We conclude that f is not uniformly continuous.

• The function f (x) = x 2 is Lipschitz (and hence

uniformly continuous) on any bounded interval
[a, b].
For any x, y ∈ [a, b] we obtain
|x 2 − y 2 | = |(x + y )(x − y )| = |x + y | |x − y |
≤ (|x| + |y |) |x − y | ≤ 2 max(|a|, |b|) |x − y |.
Theorem Any function continuous on a closed bounded
interval [a, b] is also uniformly continuous on [a, b].
Proof: Assume that a function f : [a, b] → R is not
uniformly continuous on [a, b]. We have to show that f is not
continuous on [a, b]. By assumption, there exists ε > 0 such
that for any δ > 0 we can find two points x, y ∈ [a, b]
satisfying |x − y | < δ and |f (x) − f (y )| ≥ ε. In particular,
for any n ∈ N there exist points xn , yn ∈ [a, b] such that
|xn − yn | < 1/n while |f (xn ) − f (yn )| ≥ ε.
By construction, {xn } is a bounded sequence. According to
the Bolzano-Weierstrass theorem, there is a subsequence {xnk }
converging to a limit c. Moreover, c belongs to [a, b] as
{xn } ⊂ [a, b]. Since xn − 1/n < yn < xn + 1/n for all
n ∈ N, the subsequence {ynk } also converges to c. However
the inequalities |f (xnk ) − f (ynk )| ≥ ε imply that at least one
of the sequences {f (xnk )} and {f (ynk )} is not converging to
f (c). It follows that the function f is not continuous at c.
Theorem Suppose that a function f : E → R is
uniformly continuous on E . Then it maps Cauchy
sequences to Cauchy sequences, that is, for any
Cauchy sequence {xn } ⊂ E the sequence {f (xn )} is
also Cauchy.
Proof: Let {xn } ⊂ E be a Cauchy sequence. Since the
function f is uniformly continuous on E , for every ε > 0 there
exists δ = δ(ε) such that |x − y | < δ and x, y ∈ E imply
|f (x) − f (y )| < ε. Since {xn } is a Cauchy sequence, there
exists N = N(δ) ∈ N such that |xn − xm | < δ for all
n, m ≥ N. Then |f (xn ) − f (xm )| < ε for all n, m ≥ N.
We conclude that {f (xn )} is a Cauchy sequence.
Dense subsets
Definition. Given a set E ⊂ R and its subset E0 ⊂ E , we say
that E0 is dense in E if for any point x ∈ E and any ε > 0
the interval (x − ε, x + ε) contains an element of E0 .
Examples. • An open bounded interval (a, b) is dense in the
closed interval [a, b].
• The set Q of rational numbers is dense in R.

Theorem A subset E0 of a set E ⊂ R is dense in E if and

only if for any c ∈ E there exists a sequence {xn } ⊂ E0
converging to c.
Proof: Suppose that for any point c ∈ E there is a sequence
{xn } ⊂ E0 converging to c. Then any ε-neighborhood
(c − ε, c + ε) of c contains an element of that sequence.
Conversely, suppose that E0 is dense in E . Then, given
c ∈ E , for any n ∈ N there is a point xn ∈ (c− n1 , c+ n1 ) ∩ E0 .
Clearly, xn → c as n → ∞.
Continuous extension

Theorem Suppose that a subset E0 of a set

E ⊂ R is dense in E . Then any uniformly
continuous function f : E0 → R can be extended to
a continuous function on E . Moreover, the
extension is unique and uniformly continuous.
Proof: First let us show that a continuous extension of the
function f to the set E is unique (assuming it exists).
Suppose g , h : E → R are two continuous extensions of f .
Since the set E0 is dense in E , for any c ∈ E there is a
sequence {xn } ⊂ E0 converging to c. Since g and h are
continuous at c, we get g (xn ) → g (c) and h(xn ) → h(c) as
n → ∞. However g (xn ) = h(xn ) = f (xn ) for all n ∈ N.
Hence g (c) = h(c).
Proof (continued): Given c ∈ E , let {xn } be a sequence of
elements of E0 converging to c. The sequence {xn } is
Cauchy. Since f is uniformly continuous, it follows that the
sequence {f (xn )} is also Cauchy. Hence it converges to a
limit L. We claim that the limit L depends only on c and does
not depend on the choice of the sequence {xn }. Indeed, let
{x̃n } ⊂ E0 be another sequence converging to c. Then a
sequence x1 , x̃1 , x2 , x̃2, . . . also converges to c. Consequently,
the sequence f (x1 ), f (x̃1 ), f (x2 ), f (x̃2 ), . . . is convergent.
The limit is L since the subsequence {f (xn )} converges to L.
Another subsequence is {f (x̃n )}, hence it converges to L as
well. Now we set F (c) = L, which defines a function
F : E → R.
The continuity of the function f implies that F (c) = f (c) for
c ∈ E0 , i.e., F is an extension of f .
Proof (continued): It remains to show that the extension F is
uniformly continuous.
Given ε > 0, let ε0 = ε/2. Since f is uniformly continuous,
there is δ > 0 such that |x − y | < δ implies
|f (x) − f (y )| < ε0 for all x, y ∈ E0 . For any c, d ∈ E we
can find sequences {xn } and {yn } of elements of E0 such that
xn → c and yn → d as n → ∞. By construction of F , we
have f (xn ) → F (c) and f (yn ) → F (d ) as n → ∞.
If |c − d | < δ, then |xn − yn | < δ for all sufficiently large n.
Consequently, |f (xn ) − f (yn )| < ε0 for all sufficiently large n,
which implies |F (c) − F (d )| ≤ ε0 < ε.
Thus F is uniformly continuous.
Exponential functions

Theorem For any a > 0 there exists a unique

function Fa : R → R satisfying the following
conditions:
(i) Fa (1) = a,
(ii) Fa (x + y ) = Fa (x)Fa (y ) for all x, y ∈ R,
(iii) Fa is continuous at 0.

Remark. The function is denoted Fa (x) = ax and

called the exponential function with base a.
Sketch of the proof (existence)
Let a0 = 1, a1 = a, and an+1 = an a for all n ∈ N.
Further, let a−n = 1/an for all n ∈ N.
Lemma 1 am+n = am an and amn = (am )n for all m, n ∈ Z.
Lemma 2 If m1 , m2 ∈ √ Z and n√1 , n2 ∈ N satisfy
m1 /n1 = m2 /n2 , then n1 am1 = n2 am2 .
√
For any r ∈ Q let ar = n am , where m ∈ Z and n ∈ N are
chosen so that r = m/n.
Lemma 3 ar +s = ar as and ars = (ar )s for all r , s ∈ Q.
Lemma 4 The function f (r ) = ar , r ∈ Q, is monotone.
Lemma 5 a1/n → 1 as n → ∞.
Lemma 6 The function f (r ) = ar , r ∈ Q, is uniformly
continuous on [b1 , b2 ] ∩ Q for any bounded interval [b1 , b2 ].