Section 5.1.

3: Examples of continuous functions 79

Now lets consider the continuity of the function. As a function of x, we

know that 1/x is continuous away from x = 0; now compose this with the
sine function, which is also continuous, and you can see that sin(1/x) is also
continuous away from x = 0. Now you just have to multiply sin(1/x) by x
(which is obviously a continuous function of x!) to see that f is continuous
everywhere except at x = 0.
Now, what happens at x = 0? Clearly f is not continuous at x = 0, since
its not even defined there (theres a hole in the graph). Lets plug up this
hole by defining a function g as follows:
 
x sin 1 if x 6= 0,
g(x) = x

0 if x = 0.

So g(x) = f (x) everywhere except at x = 0, where g equals 0 but f is un-

defined. As a result, g is automatically continuous everywhere f isnamely,
everywhere except x = 0but now we need to see what happens at x = 0.
We have a hope because g(0) is defined. Also, we used the sandwich principle
in Section 3.6 of Chapter 3 to show that
 
1
lim g(x) = lim x sin = 0.
x0+ x0+ x

By symmetry (or the sandwich principle, again), we can see that the left-hand
limit is also equal to 0. So in fact the two-sided limit is 0 as well:
 
1
lim g(x) = lim x sin = 0.
x0 x0 x

So we have shown that

lim g(x) = g(0)
x0

since both sides exist and are equal to 0. This means that g is actually
continuous at x = 0, even though it was cobbled together in piecewise fashion.
Were almost ready to look at two nice facts involving continuity; first I
want to return to a point I made at the beginning of Chapter 4. The first
example we looked at was

x2 3x + 2
lim ,
x1 x2
which we solved by just substituting x = 1 to get the answer 2. Why is
this justified? The argument seems to contradict the idea that the value of
the above limit has nothing to do with what happens at x = 1, only what
happens near x = 1. This is where continuity comes in: it connects the
near with the at. Specifically, if we let f (x) = (x2 3x + 2)/(x 2),
then since the numerator and denominator are polynomials, f is continuous
everywhere except where the denominator is 0. That is, f is continuous
everywhere except at x = 2. So f is continuous at x = 1, which means that

lim f (x) = f (1).

x1
 lim f (x) =
lim
xa
x
lim f (x) DNE
lim
xa
x
lim f (x) =
x a+ M
lim
xa

80 Continuity and Differentiabilitylim

+ f (x)
lim f (x) =
x a
=
}
f (x)
lim
x axa
==
f (x) M
lim f (x) =

xa lim f (x) = L
Replacing f by its definition, welim havefxa
(x) =
x a lim f (x) DNE
lim
x xaa
f (x) DNE
x2 3x + 2 lim (1) yf2=f3(1)
(x) (x)
= L +2
lim =x = 2.
x1 x2 (1)
lim f (x) = a2
x |x|
That is the complete solution. Inx lim f (x)y=
practice, =
few mathematicians would bother
x
spelling it out in such gory detail, lim but fits
(x)worth
DNE1 understanding what youre
x
doing whenever possible! lim f (x) =1 L
x |x + 2|
y =
lim f (x) =
5.1.4 The Intermediate Value Theorem x x+2
lim f (x) = 1
Knowing that a function is continuous
x brings some benefits. Were going to
lim f (x) the
DNE1
look at two such benefits. The first x is called Intermediate Value Theorem,
2
or IVT for short. Heres the idea:lim lets suppose that
on a closed interval [a, b]. Alsolim
x a+
suppose
f (x) =
that f (a)
1< a0 function
and f (b)
f is continuous
> 0. So in the
x a+
f (x) = 2 lies below the
graph of y = f (x), we know thatlim thepoint (a,
f (x) = f (a)) x-axis and
that the point (b, f (b)) lies above
xa
the x-axis, like
3this:
lim f (x) =
xa 4
lim f (x) =
xa a
lim
xa
f (x) =
lim f (x) DNE
y = 
xa
f (x)
1
y = x sin
a
xa
b |x|
y y== x
y = x x
1
1
Now, if you have to connect those twoy points |x +with
2| a curve (which of course
=
has to obey the vertical line test), and yourex+ 2 allowed to lift your pen up,
not
its intuitively obvious that your pen will have to1 cross the x-axis somewhere
between a and b, at least once. It could be close 1
to a or close to b, or somewhere
in the middle; you might cross back and forth2 many times; but the critical
thing is that you have to cross at least once. That 1 is, there is an x-intercept
somewhere between a and b. Its crucial that the 2 function f is continuous at
every point in [a, b]; look what can happen if f 3is discontinuous at even one
point: 4
a
 
1
y = x sin
a
x
b
y=x
y = x

The discontinuity allows this function to jump over the x-axis without passing
through it. So, we need continuity on the whole region [a, b]. All this is also
true if we start above the axis and end below it; that is, if f (a) > 0 and
f (b) < 0, we must have an x-intercept somewhere in [a, b] if f is continuous
on all of [a, b]. Since an x-intercept at c means that f (c) = 0, we can state
the Intermediate Value Theorem as follows:
 lim f (x) DNE
x a yf=
lim (x) DNE
xa+ y = f (x)
x+2
lim f (x) = L
xa a1
lim f (x) |x|
1
y ==
xa 2
x
lim f (x) =
xa 11
lim f (x) DNE 12 Section 5.1.4: The Intermediate Value Theorem 81
xa
y= 3
|x + 2|
x +M24 Intermediate Value Theorem: if f is continuous on [a, b], and f (a) < 0
}
1
a1
a
and f (b) > 0, then there is at least one number c in the interval (a, b)
such that f (c) = 0. The same is true if instead f (a) > 0 and f (b) < 0.
lim f (x) = M
xa  2 b
11
lim f (x) = L
y= x sin
xa Theres a proof of this theorem in Section A.4.2 of Appendix A. For now,
x2
lim f (x) DNE lets look at a few examples of how to apply this theorem. First, suppose
xa
y=
lim f (x) x
=L
3 you want to show that the polynomial p(x) = x5 + x4 + 3x + 1 has an
x 4
y = x x-intercept between x = 1 and x = 2. All you have to do is notice that
lim f (x) =
a
x p is continuous everywhere (including [1, 2]) because its a polynomial; also,
lim f (x) = a calculate p(1) = 4 > 0 and p(2) = 9 < 0. Since p(1) and p(2) have opposite
x
lim f (x) DNEb
  signs and p is continuous on [1, 2], we know that there is at least one number
x 1
y lim
= x sin
f (x) = L c in the interval (1, 2) such that p(c) = 0. This number c is an x-intercept of
x x the polynomial p.
lim f (x)y ==x Heres a slightly harder example. How would you show that the equation
x
y =
lim f (x) = x x = cos(x) has a solution? You dont have to find the solution, only to
x
lim f (x) DNE show that there is one. You could start by drawing the graphs of y = x and
x y = cos(x) on the same axes. If you do, youll find that the intersection of the
lim f (x) =
x a+ graphs has x-coordinate somewhere around /4. This graphical argument,
lim
x a+
f (x) = while compelling, doesnt cut it so far as a mathematical proof is concerned.
lim
x a
f (x) = How can we do better?
lim
xa f (x) = The first step is to use a little trick: put everything onto the left-hand
lim
xa
f (x) = side. So, instead of solving x = cos(x), we try to solve x cos(x) = 0. Now
lim
xa
f (x) = we must take the initiative and set f (x) = x cos(x). Well be all done if we
lim
xa
f (x) DNE can show that there is a number c such that f (c) = 0. Lets check that this
y = f (x) makes sense: if f (c) = 0, then c cos(c) = 0, so c = cos(c) and we have found
a a solution to the equation x = cos(x), namely x = c.
|x| Now its time to use the Intermediate Value Theorem. We need to find
y=
x two numbers a and b such that one of f (a) and f (b) is negative and the other
1 one is positive. Since we think (from the graph) that the answer is around
1 /4, well be conservative and take a = 0 and b = /2. Lets check the values
|x + 2|
y= of f (0) and f (/2). First, f (0) = 0 cos(0) = 0 1 = 1, which is negative,
x+2 and second, f (/2) = /2 cos(/2) = /2 0 = /2, which is positive.
1 Since f is continuous (it is the difference of two continuous functions), we
1 can conclude by the Intermediate Value Theorem that f (c) = 0 for some c
2 in the interval (0, /2), and we have shown that x = cos(x) has a solution.
1 We dont know where the solution is, nor how many solutions there areonly
2 that there is at least one solution in the interval (0, /2). (Note that the
3 solution is not really at /4! Its not possible to find a nice expression for the
4 answer, actually.)
a Heres a small variation. So far, we have required that f (a) < 0 and
a f (b) > 0 (or the other way around), then concluded that theres a number
 b c in (a, b) such that f (c) = 0. Instead, we can replace 0 by any number M
1
y = x sin and the result is still true. So, suppose f is continuous on [a, b]; if f (a) < M
x and f (b) > M (or the other way around), then there is some c in (a, b) such
y=x that f (c) = M . For example, if f (x) = 3x + x2 , then does the equation
y = x f (x) = 5 have a solution? Certainly f is continuous; also we can guess to
plug in 0 and 2, which leads to f (0) = 1 and f (2) = 13. Since the numbers 1
and 13 surround the target number 5 (one is smaller and the other is bigger),
the Intermediate Value Theorem tells us that f (c) = 5 for some c in (0, 2).