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Continuity and Differentiation

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32 views4 pages

Continuity and Differentiation

.

Uploaded by

Mitko Georgiev
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Math 251, 2.4 & 3.

1 Continuity and Differentiation


(1) Continuity at a point on an open interval. The term continuous has a vague
definition of being a function whose graph can be drawn without lifting up your pencil.
We want to come up with a working definition of what it means to be continuous. We
consider the following three scenarios of a discontinuity at a point x = c.
This leads us to the following “working definition” of continuity:

Figure
Figure 3. The limit of
1. The func- Figure
2. The limit of f (x) at x = c
tion is not exists, but is
defined at f (x) does not
exist at x = c not equal to
x=c f (c)

Defintion of Continuity at a point.. A function f is continuous at c when


these three conditions are met.

(a) f (c) defined (i.e x = c is in the domain of f ).

(b) lim f (x) exists (i.e. the left and the right limits are equal).
x→c

(c) lim f (x) = f (c). We say a function f is continuous on an open interval


x→c

when the function is continuous at each point in the interval. A function that
is continuous on (−∞, ∞) is said to be continuous everywhere.

Remark. If a function f is defined on some open interval I and is continuous in I ex-


cept at x = c, then we say that f is discontinuous at c. In the case of the discontinuity
being a hole, that is condition (b) from the definition is met, then the discontinuity is
said to be a removable discontinuity.

(2) Example A: Discuss the discontinuity of the following functions.


1
(a) f (x) = . The function is defined for all real numbers except for x = 0. We know
x
1
that lim does not exist, so the discontinuity is not removable.
x→0 x

1
x2 − 1
(b) f (x) = . This function is not defined at x = 1. When we simplify we see
x−1
that f (x) = x + 1, except for x = 1. This would be a removable discontinuity
because x = 1 is not in the domain, however, lim f (x) exists.
x→1
x + 1 if x ≤ 0

(c) f (x) = In this case, x = 0 is in the domain, and the left and
ex if x > 0
lim f (x) = lim ex = 1 and lim f (x) = lim x + 1 = 1, thus the limit exists.
x→0+ x→0 x→0− x→0
Lastly, lim f (x) = f (1), thus the function is continuous.
x→0
(3) Properties of Continuous Functions.

Theorem. If b is a real number and f and g are continuous at x = c, then


polynomials, rational (except at asymptotes), radical, trigonometric, exponential
and logarithmic functions are continuous at every point. Furthermore,
• Scalar multiplication: bf

• Product: f g

• Sum or difference: f ± g
f
• Quotient: g

• Composition: f ◦ g
(
ln(x + 1) if x ≤ 0
(4) Example B: Determine if the following function f (x) = is continuous
1 − x2 if x > 0
at x = 0.
Solution: We go through each condition in the definiton.
• x = 1 is in the domain of f .

• lim f (x) = lim 1 − x2 = 0, and lim f (x) = lim ln(x + 1) = 0. Therefore lim f (x)
x→1+ x→1 x→1− x→1 x→0
exists and is equal to 1

• lim f (x) = f (0) = 1


x→0

(5) Example C: Determine the value of a that will make the function continuous:
 2 2
x − a
if x 6= a
f (x) = x−a
8 if x = a

Solution: We go through the definition of continuity


• x = a is in the domain of f and f (a) = 8.

• lim f (x) = 2a = lim f (x). Thus lim f (x) = 2a exists.


x→a− x→a+ x→a

• We need for lim f (x) = f (a). This means then that 2a = 8, so a = 4.


x→a

(6) The Intermediate Value Theorem.


Theorem. If f is continuous on the close interval [a, b], f (a) 6= f (b), and k is any
number between f (a) and f (b), then there is at least one number c in [a, b] such
that f (c) = k.
2
Remark. The Intermediate Value Theorem tells you that at least one number x = c
exists in the interval that gives you f (c) = k. However, this does not tell you how to find
it. However, existence theorems are important as if the solution were not to exists, there
would be no point in finding it. We can, therefore, use the Intermediate Value Theo-
rem to locate the interval that we need to use in order to find the solution to an equation.

(7) Example D: Let f (x) = x3 + 2x − 1. Show that the function has a root between [0, 1].
Solution: Since f is continuous everywhere, because it is a polynomial, we can apply the
Intermediate Value Theorem. We observe that f (0) = −1 < 0, and that f (1) = 1 > 0.
Therefore, at some point between [0, 1], f (x) must cross the x-axis.

(8) Example E: Determine an interval for which f (x) = x2 − 6x + 8 has a root.


Solution: We observe that f is a polynomial which means that it is continuous every-
where. We look for places where f > 0 and f < 0. We see that f (1) = 1 > 0, but
f (3) = −1 < 0. Therefore, by the Intermediate Value Theorem, there is a value of
x ∈ [1, 3], such that f must cross the x-axis. We can actually solve this equation. It is
x = 2 and x = 4.

(9) Consequences of Continuity. A function that is continuous can have a tangent line
at any point along the graph. This leads to the following definition.
Theorem. If f is defined on an open interval containing x = c, and if the limit
c+∆x
∆y − f (c)
lim = lim =m
∆x→0 ∆x ∆x→0 ∆x
exists, then the line passing through (c, f (c)) with slope m is the tangent line to
the raph of f at the point (c, f (c))

Alternatively, you can also use the formula

f (x) − f (c)
lim =m
x→c x−c

Use which ever formula is convenient. We can find a generalized formula for the slope of
the tangent line at any point along the curve. This formula would be a derived function
or the derivative which is given by,

f (x + h) − f (x) f (t) − f (x)


f 0 (x) = lim = lim
h→0 h t→x t−x

(10) Example F: Find the slope and equation of the tangent line of the graph f (x) = x2 + 1
at the points (−1, 2).
Solution:

(x2 + 1) − (2)
m = lim
x→−1 x+1
2
x −1
= lim
x→−1 x + 1
= lim x − 1
x→−1
= −2

The equation of the tangent line is given by y − 2 = −2(x + 1) using the point-slope
formula.
3
(11) Example G: Find the derivative of f (x) = x3 + 2x using the definition of the derivative.
Solution:
f (x + h) − f (x)
f 0 (x) = lim
hx→0 h
[(x + h) + 2(x + h)] − (x3 + 2x)
3
= lim
h→0 h
x3 + 3x2 h + 3xh2 + h3 − x3 − 2x
= lim
h→0 h
3x h + 3xh + h3
2 2
= lim
h→0 h
= lim 3x + 3xh + h2
2
h→0
2
= 3x

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