JRS TUTORIALS

Mathematics Problem Sheet

Continuity and Differentiability - II

In exercises 1-2, say whether the function graphed is continuous on [–1, 3]. If not, where does it fail
to be continuous and why?
y y

y = f (x) y = h(x)

1. 3 2. 3

1 1
x x
–1 0 1 2 3 –1 0 1 2 3

 x 2  1, 1  x  0

 2 x , 0  x 1
Exercises 3-5 are about the function f ( x )   1, x 1 graphed in Fig.
 2 x  4 , 1 x  2

 0 , 2 x3
3. a. Does f (–1) exist? y
b. Does lim x  1  f ( x) exist?
c. Does lim x  1 
f ( x)  f ( 1) ? y = f (x)
2 (1, 2)
d. Is f continuous at x = – 1?
y = 2x
1 y = – 2x + 4
4. a. Is f defined at x = 2? (Look at the definition of f.) (1, 1)
b. Is f continuous at x = 2?
x
–1 0 1 2 3
5. What value should be assigned to f (2) to make the
y = x2 – 1
extended function continuous at x = 2?

6. At which points do the functions in the following exercises fail to be continuous? At which
points, if any, are the discontinuities removable? Not removable? Give reasons for your
answers.
1 x 1
a. y  3x b. y 2 c. y  | x  1 |  sin x
x2 x  4x  3
cos x x tan x
d. y e. y = cos 2x f. y 2
x x 1
g. y 2x  3 h. y  (2 x  1) 1/ 3
JRS TUTORIALS Durgakund Varanasi 221005 Ph. No. 2311922, 2311777, 3290510
7. Define g (3) in a way that extends g (x) = (x2 – 9) / (x – 3) to be continuous at x = 3.

x 2  1, x  3
8. For what value of a is f ( x)   continuous at every x?
 2ax , x  3
9. If the product function h ( x)  f ( x)  g ( x) is continuous at x = 0, must f (x) and g (x) be
continuous at x = 0? Give reasons for your answer.

10. On what intervals are the following functions continuous?

a. f (x) = x1/3 b. g(x) = x3/4 c. h (x) = x –2/3 d. k (x) = x –1/6
e. f ( x) | x  1 | [ x], x  R f f ( x)  max ( x, x 3 ), x  R
 4x  
g. f ( x)  [ x] sin , x  Domain of f. h. f ( x)  min{ , tan x},   x 
[ x  1]  2 2
2 2
i. f ( x)  [| 2 x  3 |], 0  x  3 j. f ( x)  [ x]  [ x ],2  x  2

11. Test the continuity & differentiability of the function defined as under at x = 1 & x = 2.
 x ; x 1

f x  2x ; 1 x  2.
 2  3x x 2 ; x2


 1 for x0
 

12. A function f is defined as follows: f  x    1  sin x for 0x
 2
2   x    2 for 
x
  2  2
Discuss the continuity & differentiability at x = 0 & x =  / 2 .

2
13. Examine the differentiability of f  x   1  e x at x = 0.

 a x 2  b if x  1

14. If f  x    1 is derivable at x = 1. Find the values of a & b.
 if x  1
 x


15. Draw a graph of the function, y   x   1  x  1  x  3 . Determine the points, if any,

where this function is not differentiable, where   denotes the greatest integer function.
 1 ; 0 x 1
 x
16. Discuss the continuity & derivability of f  x    2
 x  x  ; 1 x  2
where [x] indicates the greatest integer not greater than x.

JRS TUTORIALS Durgakund Varanasi 221005 Ph. No. 2311922, 2311777, 3290510
  m 1
 x sin   ; x  0
17. Show that the function f  x     x  ; x  0 is,
 0
a. differentiable at x = 0, if m > 1.
b. continuous but not differentiable at x = 0, if 0  m  1 .
c. neither continuous nor differentiable, if m  0 .

18. Examine the continuity at x = 0 of the sum function of the infinite series:
x x x
   ...............  .
x  1  x  1  2 x  1   2 x  1  3 x  1 

sin 3 x  A sin 2 x  B sin x

19. If f  x    x  0  is continuous at x = 0. Find A & B. Also
x5
find f (0).

log  x  2   x 2 n sin x
20. If f  x   Limit , examine the continuity of f (x) at x = 1.
n x 2n  1

21. Discuss the continuity & differentiability of the function

f  x   sin x  sin x , x  R . Draw a rough sketch of the graph of f (x). Also comment
on periodicity of function f (x).

 1  x , 0  x  1
22. f  x    x  2 ,  1  x  2  . Discuss the continuity & differentiability of
 4  x ,  2  x  4 
y  f [ f ( x )] for 0  x  4.

 2 x 2 sin  x , x 1
23. If f  x    3 2
be a differentiable function. Examine whether it is
 x  ax  b , x 1
twice differentiable in R.

24. The function f is defined by y  f  x . Where x  2 t  t , y  t 2

 t t , t  R.
Draw the graph of f for the interval 1  x  1 . Also discuss its continuity &
differentiability at x = 0.

25. Is it true that a continuous function that is never zero on an interval never changes sign on
that interval? Give reasons for your answer.

JRS TUTORIALS Durgakund Varanasi 221005 Ph. No. 2311922, 2311777, 3290510
Prove graphically or analytically OR disprove by giving a counter example.

26. Every continuous function has an inverse.

27. An even periodic function is always continuous.
28. A periodic function is continuous every where if it is continuous over one period.
29. Let f (x ) be continuous over [0, 4] if f (0) = 3 and f (4) = 7 then there is an x, 0 < x < 4
such that f(x) = 5.
30. Let f (x) be defined over [0, 1] if f (0)  1and f (1)  1 then there is an x  (0, 1) such
that f (x) = 0.
31. If f (x) is defined and monotonic over [a, b] and takes all the values between f (a) and
f (b) then f (x) is continuous over [a, b].
32. Every function which has an invert is either increasing or decreasing.
33. If f (x) is such that its inverse exists and is continuous then f (x) is also continuous.
34. Let f ( x)  x12  x 9  x 3  1 then f ( x)  0 has at least two roots.
35. Let f (x) be continuous and g (x) be discontinuous. Then f (g (x)) is always discontinuous.
36. Let f (x) be defined from [a, b] onto [a, b]. If f (x) is continuous then there is an
x  [a, b] such that f (x) = x.
37. A discontinuous function over the interval [a, b] can not attain its maximum and / or
minimum values on [a, b].
38. Suppose f (x) is differentiable at x = a and g (x) is not differentiable at x = a then
f (x) g (x) is also not differentiable at a.
39. Product of two functions f (x) and g (x) which are both discontinuous at x  x0 is always

discontinuous at x  x0 .

40. Consider a continuous function f (x) defined over the interval [-1,1]. If f (–1) = f (1) then
there exists a c, 0  c  1 such that f (c)  f (c  1).

JRS TUTORIALS Durgakund Varanasi 221005 Ph. No. 2311922, 2311777, 3290510
 ANSWERS

1. Discontinuous of x = 2, function is not defined at x = 2.

2. Continuous every where

3. (a) Yes (b) Yes (c) Yes (d) Yes

4. (a) No (b) No 5. f (2)  0

6. (a) at x = 2, non-removable discontinuing, f (x) is not defined

(b) at x = 1 and x = 3 non removable discontinuing, f (x) is not defined

(c) Continuous every where

(d) at x = 0, non- removable discontinuing, f (x) , not defined .

(e) at x = n, non-removable discontinuing.

(f) at x = (2n + 1) / 2, non-removable discontinuing

(g) Continuous every where, x  – 3/2

(h) Continuous every where.

7. g (3) = 6 . 8. 9 = 4/3 9. No

10. (a) R (b) [0, ) (c) R \ {0} (d) (0, )

(e) R\ Z (f) R (g) At all integers except 0.

(h) (–  / 2, / 2) (i) continuous every where except at 0, 1/2, 1, 2. 5/2, & 3

(j) Continuous every where except at  2, 1, 2, 3 & 0

11. continuous at both points but differentiable only at x = 2

12. continuous but not differentiable at x = 0; differentiable & continuous at x =  /2

13. not differentiable at x = 0

14. a = 1/2, b = 3/2

15. f is not derivable at all integral values in 1  x  3

JRS TUTORIALS Durgakund Varanasi 221005 Ph. No. 2311922, 2311777, 3290510
16. f is continuous but not derivable at x = 1/2, f is neither differentiable nor continuous at
x=1&x=2
18. Discontinuous

19. A = - 4, B = 5, f (0) = 1

20. not continuous at x = 1

21. f (x) is continuous but not differentiable at x  n  , n  I , f  x  is not periodic.

22. f is continuous but not differentiable at x = 1, discontinuous at x = 2 & x = 3, continuous &

differentiable at all other points

23. Twice differentiable in R except at x = 1

24. f  x   2 x 2 for 0  x  1 & f  x   0 for 1  x  0 , f is differentiable & hence

continuous at x = 0

JRS TUTORIALS Durgakund Varanasi 221005 Ph. No. 2311922, 2311777, 3290510