2.

5 Lecture Notes
Brody Lynch
September 9, 2024

1 Continuity of a Function

Previously, we stated that for polynomials and for rational functions f , if f is defined at
a, then lim f (x) = f (a). However, there are plenty of other functions that also have this
x→a

property. In this section, we will use this property to define a type of function and then see
what nice results we get for this special class of functions.

Definition 1.1. A function f is continuous at a if lim f (x) = f (a).

x→a

Remark 1.2. Hidden in this definition, we need three things.

1. lim f (x) exists

x→a

2. f (a) is defined.

3. These quantities are equal.

The intuition for a continuous function is that you should be able to draw its graph
without picking up your pencil. This idea will not always be helpful, but it will for all of the
examples in this course. If f is defined around a, but is not continuous at a, then we say
that f is discontinuous at a, or that a is a discontinuity.

Example 1.3. Find the discontinuities in the following functions.

1
 x2 + 3x + 2
1.
x+2
For a rational function, the function is only discontinuous when the denominator is 0
(and thus the function is undefined). This happens at x = −2.





 x−1 x<1


2. f (x) = x2 − 2x + 1 1≤x≤3





−x
 x > 3.
Note that the function is continuous at x = 1, because lim− f (x) = 0 = lim+ f (x) so
x→1 x→1
lim f (x) = f (1) = 0. The function is not continuous at 3 because lim− f (x) = 4 and
x→1 x→3
lim f (x) = −3 so lim f (x) does not exist.
x→3+ x→3

Definition 1.4. We say that a function is continuous on an interval if it is continuous

at every point on that interval. Sometimes I will simply say that a function is “continuous”
if it is continuous at all points in its domain.

1.1 Types of discontinuites

There are 3 types of discontinuities:

1. Removable discontinuities are “holes in the graph”

2. Infinite discontinuities are when the graph goes to infinity at that point

3. Jump discontinuities

x2 −x+6
Example 1.5. 1. Removable discontinuities: f (x) = x−3
has a removable discontinu-
ity at x = 3.

2
 
x2 + x x ̸= 2


g(x) = has a removable discontinuity at x = 2.

1
 x=2

3
 1
2. f (x) = x2
has an infinite discontinuity at x = 0 we call this a vertical asymtote and
will discuss this more in the next section.



0 x ≤ 2

3. f (x) = has a jump discontinuity at x = 2.

1 x > 2


4
1.2 One-sided continuity

Definition 1.6. We say that a function f is continuous at a from the left if lim− f (x) = f (a).
x→a
A function is continuous at a from the right if lim+ f (x) = f (a)
x→a

Example 1.7. Let [[x]] be the “floor” function that returns the largest integer less than or
equal to x. For instance, [[ 12 ]] = 0 and [[2]] = 2. This function is continuous at integer x
values from the right, but not from the left. This is because its value at an integer is the
same as its value to the right, but not the same as its value to the left.

2 Properties of Continuous Functions

Theorem 2.1. If f and g are continuous, then the following are also continuous:

1. f + g

2. f − g

3. cf

5
 4. f g

f
5. g
if g(a) ̸= 0.

This theorem can be proven by using the corresponding limit law for each of the 5 cases.

Theorem 2.2. Polynomials are continuous on R and rational functions are continuous on
their domain.

Remark 2.3. This is simply restating what we already knew from section 2.3.

Theorem 2.4. The following types functions are continuous for every value in their domain.

1. Polynomials

2. Rational functions

3. Root functions

4. Trigonometric functions

5. Inverse trigonometric functions

6. Exponential functions

7. Logarithmic functions

Theorem 2.5. If f is continuous at b and lim g(x) = b, then lim f (g(x)) = f (b). In other
x→a x→a

words,
 
lim f (g(x)) = f lim g(x) .
x→a x→a

Remark 2.6. Intuitively this means that we can pull continuous functions in and out of
√
limits. This is a generalization of the power and root limit laws because xn and n x are
continuous functions on their domains.

6
Example 2.7. Compute the lim f (x) for f (x) = arctan(x2 − x + 1).
x→1

  π
lim arctan(x2 − x + 1) = arctan lim x2 − x + 1 = arctan(1) = .
x→1 x→1 4

Theorem 2.8. If f and g are continuous functions, then f (g(x)) and g(f (x)) are continuous
functions as well.

Remark 2.9. Ocassionally you will see the notation f ◦ g to refer to the function f (g(x)).
Remember to work from right to left when plugging x into the functions. In this case, we
take g(x) first and then plug that value into f (x).

3 Intermediate Value Theorem

Theorem 3.1. Suppose that f is continuous on the closed interval [a, b] and let N be any
number between f (a) and f (b) where f (a) ̸= f (b). Then there exists a number c ∈ (a, b) such
that f (c) = N .

Remark 3.2. When drawing the graph of a continuous function, you cannot pick up your
pencil. Therefore, if you draw any horizontal line y = N for N between f (a) and f (b), you
have to cross that line when drawing the graph.

Example 3.3. Use the intermediate value theorem to show that f (x) = x2 − x − 2 has an
x-intercept.
First, f is a polynomial so it is a continuous function. When x = 0, f (0) = −2. When
x = 3, f (3) = 4. Therefore, by the IVT, since −2 < 0 < 4, in the interval (0, 3) there must
be some x value c such that f (c) = 0.

Example 3.4. Show that there is a solution to the equation f (x) = x3 − x + 1 = 0 between
x = −2 and x = −1. Groups!

7
 We know that f is continuous, f (−2) = −9 and f (−1) = 1. Therefore, by the IVT, since
−9 < 0 < 1, in the interval (−2, −1) there must be some x value c such that f (c) = 0.

Remark 3.5. Repeating this method over and over again allows computers to make pro-
gressively better guesses at what solutions to polynomials may be.