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Lecture 2.1

This document is a lesson plan for a Calculus I class taught by Samat Kassabek at Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan. The lesson covers the topics of continuity, tangent lines, and rates of change. It defines continuity, discusses different types of discontinuities, and examines the continuity of functions like polynomials, rational functions, and compositions of functions. Examples are provided to illustrate these concepts of continuity.

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Zhasmin Kendybayeva
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16 views18 pages

Lecture 2.1

This document is a lesson plan for a Calculus I class taught by Samat Kassabek at Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan. The lesson covers the topics of continuity, tangent lines, and rates of change. It defines continuity, discusses different types of discontinuities, and examines the continuity of functions like polynomials, rational functions, and compositions of functions. Examples are provided to illustrate these concepts of continuity.

Uploaded by

Zhasmin Kendybayeva
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Calculus I

Samat Kassabek

Department of Mathematics
School of Sciences and Humanities
Nazarbayev University
Kazakhstan

Week 2 - Continuity. Tangent lines and rates of change

Samat Kassabek ([email protected]) Calculus I 1 / 18


Review: Week-1

Limits
Computing Limits
Limits at Infinity

Samat Kassabek ([email protected]) Calculus I 2 / 18


What’s up in Week-2

Continuity
Tangent lines and rates of change

Samat Kassabek ([email protected]) Calculus I 3 / 18


Section 1.5
Continuity

Samat Kassabek ([email protected]) Calculus I 4 / 18


Continuity

A thrown baseball cannot vanish at some point and reappear


someplace else to continue its motion.
Thus, we perceive the path of the ball as an unbroken curve.

Definition (an informal view)


The graph of a function can be described as a continuous curve if it has
no breaks or holes.

Samat Kassabek ([email protected]) Calculus I 5 / 18


Continuity
Definition
A function f is said to be continuous at x = c provided the following
conditions are satisfied:
1 f (c) is defined.
2 limx→c f (x) exists.
3 limx→c f (x) = f (c).

If one or more of the conditions of this definition fails to hold, then


we will say that f has a discontinuity at x = c.

Samat Kassabek ([email protected]) Calculus I 6 / 18


Continuity
In Figure (a), the function is not defined at c.
In Figure (b), the one-sided limits of f (x) as x approaches c both
exist but are not equal. We will say that a function has a jump
discontinuity at c.
In Figure (c), the one-sided limits of f (x) as x approaches c are
infinite. Thus, limx→c f (x) does not exist. We will say that a function
has an infinite discontinuity at c.
In Figure (d), the function is defined at c and limx→c f (x) exists, but
these two values are not equal. We will say that a function has a
removable discontinuity at c.

Samat Kassabek ([email protected]) Calculus I 7 / 18


Example
Example
Determine whether the following functions are continuous at x = 2.
( 2 ( 2
x −4
x2 − 4 x −4
, x ̸
= 2 , x ̸= 2
f (x) = , g (x) = x−2 h(x) = x−2
x −2 3, x = 2, 4, x =2

Samat Kassabek ([email protected]) Calculus I 8 / 18


Example
In each case we must determine whether the limit of the function as
x → 2 is the same as the value of the function at x = 2.
In all three cases the functions are identical, except at x = 2, and
x2 − 4
lim f (x) = lim g (x) = lim h(x) = lim = lim (x + 2) = 4
x→2 x→2 x→2 x→2 x − 2 x→2
The function f is undefined at x = 2, and f is not cont. at x = 2.
The function g is defined at x = 2, but its value there is
g (2) ̸= limx→2 g (x); hence, g is also not continuous at x = 2.
The value of the function h at x = 2 is h(2) = 4, which is the same as
the limit as x approaches 2; hence, h is continuous at x = 2.

Samat Kassabek ([email protected]) Calculus I 9 / 18


Continuity on an interval

If a function f is continuous at each number in an open interval (a, b),


then we say that f is continuous on (a, b).

This definition applies to infinite open intervals of the form (a, +∞),
(−∞, b), and (−∞, +∞).

In the case where f is continuous on (−∞, +∞), we will say that f is


continuous everywhere.

Definition involves a two-sided limit, that definition does not generally


apply at the endpoints of a closed interval [a, b] or at the endpoint of
an interval of the form [a, b), (a, b], (−∞, b], or [a, +∞).

Samat Kassabek ([email protected]) Calculus I 10 / 18


Definition
A function f is said to be continuous on a closed interval [a, b] if the
following conditions are satisfied:
1 f is continuous on (a, b).
2 f is continuous from the right at a, that is

lim f (x) = f (a)


x→a+

3 f is continuous from the left at b, that is

lim f (x) = f (b)


x→b −

Samat Kassabek ([email protected]) Calculus I 11 / 18


Example
Example
√
What can you say about the continuity of the function f (x) = 9 − x 2?

The domain of function f is the closed interval [−3, 3]


We will investigate the continuity of f on the open interval (−3, 3)
and at the two endpoints.
If c is any point in the interval (−3, 3), then
p q p
lim f (x) = lim 9 − x 2 = lim (9 − x 2 ) = 9 − c 2 = f (c)
x→c x→c x→c

which proves f is continuous at each point in the interval (−3, 3).


The function f is also continuous at the endpoints since
p q
lim− f (x) = lim− 9 − x 2 = lim (9 − x 2 ) = 0 = f (3)
x→3 x→3 x→3−
p r
lim + f (x) = lim + 9 − x 2 = lim + (9 − x 2 ) = 0 = f (−3)
x→−3 x→−3 x→−3

‘Thus, f is continuous on the closed interval [−3, 3].


Samat Kassabek ([email protected]) Calculus I 12 / 18
Theorem

Theorem 1
If the functions f and g are continuous at c, then
(a) f + g is continuous at c.
(b) f − g is continuous at c.
(c) fg is continuous at c.
(d) f /g is continuous at c if g (c) ̸= 0 and has a discontinuity at c if
g (c) = 0.

Samat Kassabek ([email protected]) Calculus I 13 / 18


Continuity of polynomials and rational functions

Theorem 2
(a) A polynomial is continuous everywhere.
(b) A rational function is continuous at every point where the
denominator is nonzero, and has discontinuities at the points where
the denominator is zero.

Example
For what values of x is there a discontinuity in the graph of

x2 − 9
y=
x 2 − 5x + 6

Samat Kassabek ([email protected]) Calculus I 14 / 18


Example

Example
For what values of x is there a discontinuity in the graph of

x2 − 9
y=
x 2 − 5x+6

The function being graphed is a rational


function, and hence is continuous at
every number where the denominator is
nonzero.
Solving the equation

x 2 − 5x + 6 = 0

yields discontinuities at x = 2 and at


x = 3).
Samat Kassabek ([email protected]) Calculus I 15 / 18
Continuity of compositions

Theorem 3
If limx→c g (x) = L and if the function f is continuous at L, then
limx→c f (g (x)) = f (L). That is,
 
lim f (g (x)) = f lim g (x)
x→c x→c

This equality remains valid if limx→c is replaced everywhere by one of


limx→c + , limx→c − , limx→+∞ , or limx→−∞ .

Theorem 4
(a) If the function g is continuous at c, and the function f is continuous
at g (c), then the composition f ◦ g is continuous at c.
(b) If the function g is continuous everywhere and the function f is
continuous everywhere, then the composition f ◦ g is continuous
everywhere.
Samat Kassabek ([email protected]) Calculus I 16 / 18
Example
Example
Find a value of the constant k, if possible, that will make the function
continuous everywhere
(
9 − x 2 , x ≥ −3
1 f (x) =
k/x 2 , x < −3
(
9 − x 2, x ≥ 0
2 f (x) =
k/x 2 , x < 0

Example
Investigate the continuity of the function given by:

|x|
y= at x ̸= 0, y = 0 at x = 0.
x
Draw the graph of the function.
Samat Kassabek ([email protected]) Calculus I 17 / 18
The End

Samat Kassabek ([email protected]) Calculus I 18 / 18

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