Mathematics

Continuity

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Table of Content

1. Introduction.

2. Continuity of a Function at a Point.

3. Continuity from Left and Right.

4. Continuity of a Function in Open and Closed Interval.

5. Continuous Function.

6. Discontinuous Function.

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1. Introduction.

The word ‘Continuous’ means without any break or gap. If the graph of a function has no break, or gap or
jump, then it is said to be continuous.
A function which is not continuous is called a discontinuous function.
While studying graphs of functions, we see that graphs of functions sin x , x, cos x , ex etc. are continuous
but greatest integer function [x] has break at every integral point, so it is not continuous. Similarly
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tan x , cot x , sec x , etc. are also discontinuous function.
x

Y Continuous function Discontinuous function

Y
Y
Y
3
(0, 1)
2
–/2  2 1
f (x) = x
–2 O /2 X X’
– X X
X X 0 –3 –2 –1 1 2 3
(0,–1) f(x)= 1/x –1
–2
y = sin x y = [x]
–3
Y
Y’

2. Continuity of a Function at a Point.

A function f (x ) is said to be continuous at a point x  a of its domain iff lim f (x )  f (a) . i.e. a function
x a

f (x ) is continuous at x  a if and only if it satisfies the following three conditions:

(1) f (a) exists. (‘a’ lies in the domain of f)

(2) lim f (x ) exist i.e. lim f (x )  lim f (x ) or R.H.L. = L.H.L.

x a x a x a

(3) lim f ( x )  f (a) (limit equals the value of function).

x a

Cauchy’s definition of continuity: A function f is said to be continuous at a point a of its domain D if

for every   0 there exists   0 (dependent on  ) such that | x  a |   | f (x )  f (a)|   .
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Comparing this definition with the definition of limit we find that f (x ) is continuous at x  a if lim f (x )
x a

exists and is equal to f (a) i.e., if lim f (x )  f (a)  lim f (x ) .

x a x a 

Heine’s definition of continuity: A function f is said to be continuous at a point a of its domain D,

converging to a, the sequence  a n  of the points in D converging to a, the sequence < f (a n ) 
converges to f (a) i.e . lim a n  a  lim f (a n )  f (a). This definition is mainly used to prove the
discontinuity to a function.

Note: Continuity of a function at a point, we find its limit and value at that point, if these two exist and are equal,
then function is continuous at that point.

Formal definition of continuity: The function f (x ) is said to be continuous at x  a, in its domain if for
any arbitrary chosen positive number   0 , we can find a corresponding number  depending on 
such that| f ( x )  f (a)|   x for which 0 | x  a |   .

3. Continuity from Left and Right.

Function f (x ) is said to be

(1) Left continuous at x = a if lim f (x )  f (a)

x a 0

(2) Right continuous at x  a if Lim f (x )  f (a) .

xa 0

Thus a function f (x ) is continuous at a point x  a if it is left continuous as well as right continuous at

x  a.

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4. Continuity of a Function in Open and Closed Interval.

Open interval: A function f (x ) is said to be continuous in an open interval (a, b) iff it is continuous at
every point in that interval.
Note: This definition implies the non-breakable behavior of the function f (x ) in the interval (a, b).

Closed interval: A function f (x ) is said to be continuous in a closed interval [a, b] iff,

(1) f is continuous in (a, b)
(2) f is continuous from the right at ‘a’ i.e. lim f ( x )  f (a)
x a

(3) f is continuous from the left at ‘b’ i.e. lim f (x )  f (b) .

x b

5. Continuous Function.

(1) A list of continuous functions:

Function f(x) Interval in which f(x) is continuous

(i) Constant K (–, )

(ii) xn, (n is a positive integer) (–, )

(iii) x–n (n is a positive integer) (–, ) – {0}

(iv) |x – a| (–, )

(v) p( x )  a 0 x n  a1 x n  1  a 2 x n  2  ........  an (–, )

p( x ) (–, ) – {x : q(x) = 0}
(vi) , where p(x) and q(x) are polynomial in x
q( x )

(vii) sin x (–, )

(viii) cos x (–, )

(ix) tan x (–, ) – {(2n + 1)/2 : n  I}

(x) cot x (–, ) – {n : n  I}

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 (xi) sec x (–, ) – {( 2n  1) /2 : n  I}

(xii) cosec x (–, ) – {n : n  I}

(xiii) e x (–, )

(xiv) log e x (0, )

(2) Properties of continuous functions: Let f (x ) and g(x ) be two continuous functions at x  a. Then
(i) cf (x ) is continuous at x = a, where c is any constant
(ii) f (x )  g(x ) is continuous at x  a.
(iii) f (x ) . g(x ) is continuous at x  a.
(iv) f ( x ) / g(x ) is continuous at x  a , provided g(a)  0 .

Important Tips
 A function f (x ) is said to be continuous if it is continuous at each point of its domain.
 A function f (x ) is said to be everywhere continuous if it is continuous on the entire real line R i.e.
(, ) . Eg. Polynomial function e x , sin x , cos x , constant, x n , | x  a | etc.

 Integral function of a continuous function is a continuous function.

 If g(x) is continuous at x = a and f(x) is continuous at x = g (a) then (fog) (x) is continuous at x  a .
 If f(x) is continuous in a closed interval [a, b] then it is bounded on this interval.
 If f(x) is a continuous function defined on [a, b] such that f (a) and f (b) are of opposite signs, then
there is atleast one value of x for which f(x) vanishes. i.e. if f (a)>0, f (b) < 0  c  (a, b) such that f(c) = 0.
 If f(x) is continuous on [a, b] and maps [a, b] into [a, b] then for some x  [a, b] we have f(x) = x.

(3) Continuity of composite function: If the function u  f (x ) is continuous at the point x  a, and the
function y  g(u) is continuous at the point u  f (a) , then the composite function y  (gof )(x )  g( f (x )) is
continuous at the point x = a.

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6. Discontinuous Function.

(1) Discontinuous function: A function ‘f’ which is not continuous at a point x  a in its domain is said
to be discontinuous there at. The point ‘a’ is called a point of discontinuity of the function.
The discontinuity may arise due to any of the following situations.
(i) lim f ( x ) or lim f (x ) or both may not exist
x a x a

(ii) lim f ( x ) as well as lim f (x ) may exist, but are unequal.

x a x a

(iii) lim f ( x ) as well as lim f (x ) both may exist, but either of the two or both may not be equal to f (a) .
x a x a

Important Tips
 A function f is said to have removable discontinuity at x = a if lim f (x )  lim f (x ) but their common
x a x a

value is not equal to f (a).

Such a discontinuity can be removed by assigning a suitable value to the function f at x = a.
 If lim f (x ) does not exist, then we cannot remove this discontinuity. So this become a non-removable
x a

discontinuity or essential discontinuity.

 If f is continuous at x = c and g is discontinuous at x = c, then
(a) f +g and f – g are discontinuous (b) f.g may be continuous
 If f and g are discontinuous at x = c, then f + g, f – g and fg may still be continuous.
 Point functions (domain and range consists one value only) is not a continuous function.