DIFFERENTIAL CALCULUS

CONTINUITY
BASIC ASSIGNMENT 1

SAGAR SURYA
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) is considered to be one of history's
greatest military leaders. He rose to prominence during the French
Revolution (1787–99) and served as emperor of France from 1804 to 1814,
and again in 1815

When Napoleon was charged with the task of leading the French invasion
into Italy via the Alps, his engineers advised him that the terrain of glaciers
and steep precipices meant an impasse with canon and other weaponry was
impossible. “IMPOSSIBLE!” he replied, “is a word found only in the
dictionary of fools.” He proclaimed that: “There shall be no Alps!” and set
about to make it so. Napoleon sought counsel, he listened and then he acted
upon his own judgement that it WAS possible to cross the Alps complete
with arsenal in tow. He simply believed there was a way it could be
done. History has shown us he was right but, regardless of outcome,
his temerity to try would have always cemented his place in history as a
doer of great things.
Q.1 – Let a < b < c. Suppose that 𝑓 is continuous on [𝑎, 𝑏], that 𝑔 is continuous on [𝑏, 𝑐] , and that f(b) =
g(b). Define ℎ on [𝑎, 𝑐] by ℎ(𝑥): = 𝑓(𝑥) for 𝑥 ∈ [𝑎, 𝑏] and ℎ(𝑥): = 𝑔(𝑥) for 𝑥 ∈ [𝑏, 𝑐] . Then,

(a) h is continous on [a,c]

(b) h is discontinuous on [a,c]

(c) h is continuous only on [a,b) U (b,c]

(d) None of these

Q.2- Determine the points of discontinuity of , [.] being the greatest integer function.

(a) [x]

(b) [Sin x ]

(c) 𝑘(𝑥): = [[1/𝑥]](𝑥 ≠ 0)

Q.3- Let 𝐴 ⊆ ℝ and let 𝑓: 𝐴 → ℝ be continuous at a point 𝑐 ∈ 𝐴. Given 𝜀 > 0, which of the following conditions
imply continuity at the point c ?

(a) Given 𝜀 > 0, there exists a neighborhood 𝑉𝛿 (𝑐) of 𝑐 such that if 𝑥, 𝑦 ∈ 𝐴 ∩ 𝑉𝛿 (𝑐), then |𝑓(𝑥) − 𝑓(𝑦)| < 𝜀

(b) Given 𝜀 > 0, there exists a neighborhood 𝑉𝛿 (𝑐) of 𝑐 such that if 𝑥, 𝑦 ∉ 𝐴 ∩ 𝑉𝛿 (𝑐), then |𝑓(𝑥) − 𝑓(𝑦)| < 𝜀

(c) Given 𝜀 > 0, there exists a neighborhood 𝑉𝛿 (𝑐) of 𝑐 such that if 𝑥, 𝑦 ∉ 𝐴 ∩ 𝑉𝛿 (𝑐), then |𝑓(𝑥) − 𝑓(𝑦)| > 𝜀

(d) None of these

Q.3- Let 𝑓: ℝ → ℝ be continuous at 𝑐 and let 𝑓(𝑐) > 0. Then, which of the following is/are True?

(a) There must exist a neighborhood 𝑉𝛿 (𝑐) of 𝑐 such that if 𝑥 ∈ 𝑉𝛿 (𝑐), then 𝑓(𝑥) > 0

(b) There must exist a neighborhood 𝑉𝛿 (𝑐) of 𝑐 such that if 𝑥 ∈ 𝑉𝛿 (𝑐), then 𝑓(𝑥) = 0

(c) There may exist a neighborhood 𝑉𝛿 (𝑐) of 𝑐 such that if 𝑥 ∈ 𝑉𝛿 (𝑐), then 𝑓(𝑥) < 0

(d) None of these

Q.4- Let 𝑓: ℝ → ℝ be continuous on ℝ and let 𝑆: = {𝑥 ∈ ℝ: 𝑓(𝑥) = 0}. If (𝑥𝑛 ) is in 𝑆 and 𝑥 = 𝑙𝑖𝑚(𝑥𝑛 ), then

(a) x must necessarily belong to S

(b) x may or may not belong to S

(c) x cannot belong to S

(d) None of these

Q.5- Let 𝐴 ⊆ 𝐵 ⊆ ℝ, let 𝑓: 𝐵 → ℝ and let 𝑔 be the restriction of 𝑓 to 𝐴 (that is, 𝑔(𝑥) = 𝑓(𝑥) for 𝑥 ∈ 𝐴). Then,
which of the following is/ are True ?

(a) If 𝑓 is continuous at 𝑐 ∈ 𝐴, then 𝑔 is continuous at 𝑐

(b) If 𝑓 is continuous at 𝑐 ∈ 𝐴, then 𝑔 need not be continuous at 𝑐

(c) If g is continuous at 𝑐 ∈ 𝐴, then f must be continous at c

(d) If g is continuous at 𝑐 ∈ 𝐴, then f need not be continous at c

Q.6- Let 𝐾 > 0 and let 𝑓: ℝ → ℝ satisfy the condition |𝑓(𝑥) − 𝑓(𝑦)| ≤ 𝐾 |𝑥 − 𝑦 | for all 𝑥, 𝑦 ∈ ℝ . Then,
f must be continuous at each real number c belonging to ℝ.

True/False

Q.7 - Suppose that 𝑓: ℝ → ℝ is continuous on ℝ and that 𝑓(𝑟) = 0 for every rational number 𝑟. Then which of
the following is True ?

(a) f is discontinuous over ℝ

(b) f (p) = 0 for every irrational p in ℝ

(c) f must be identically zero over ℝ

(d) None of these

Q.8 - Define 𝑔: ℝ → ℝ by

𝑔(𝑥): = 2𝑥 for 𝑥 rational, and

𝑔(𝑥): = 𝑥 + 3 for 𝑥 irrational. The set of all points where the function is discontinuous is

(a) A singlton set

(b) The empty set

(c) A countable set

(d) An uncountable set

Q.9 - Let 𝐴: = (0, ∞) and let 𝑓: 𝐴 → ℝ be defined as follows. For 𝑥 ∈ 𝐴, 𝑥 irrational, we define 𝑓(𝑥) =
0; for 𝑥 ∈ 𝐴 rational and of the form 𝑥 = 𝑚/𝑛 with natural numbers 𝑚, 𝑛 having no
common factors except 1, we define 𝑓(𝑥): = 𝑛 .
Which of the following is/are True ?

(a) f is bounded over every open interval in A

(b) f is unbouned over every open interval in A

(c) f is not continous at any point in A

(d) f is continuous at every point of A

Q.10 - Show that if 𝑓: 𝐴 → ℝ is continuous on 𝐴 ⊆ ℝ and if 𝑛 ∈ ℕ, then the function 𝑓 𝑛 defined by 𝑓 𝑛 (𝑥) =
(𝑓(𝑥))𝑛 and (nf) (x) =n f(x) for 𝑥 ∈ 𝐴, Then, which of the following is/ are True?

(a) 𝑓 𝑛 (𝑥) must be continuous on A

(b) 𝑓 𝑛 (𝑥) need not be continuous on A

(c) (nf)x must be continuous on A

(d) (nf)(x) need not be continuous on A

Q.11 - Let 𝑔 be defined on ℝ by 𝑔(1): = 0, and 𝑔(𝑥): = 2 if 𝑥 ≠ 1 , and let 𝑓(𝑥): = 𝑥 + 1 for all 𝑥 ∈ ℝ .

Then lim  𝑔 ∘ 𝑓 ≠ (𝑔 ∘ 𝑓)(0). ( True/False)

𝑥→0

Q.12 -Let ℎ: ℝ → ℝ be continuous on ℝ satisfying ℎ(𝑚/2𝑛 ) = 0 for all 𝑚 ∈ ℤ, 𝑛 ∈ ℕ. Then, true assertion/s
is/are

(a) h(x) must be identically zero over ℝ

(b) h(x) is discontinuous over all irrationals

(c) h(x) is discontinuous at each point over ℝ

(d) None of these

Q.13- Let 𝑓, 𝑔 be continuous from ℝ to ℝ, and suppose that 𝑓(𝑟) = 𝑔(𝑟) for all rational numbers. Then, which
of the following statement/s is/are true?

(a) 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑔(𝑥) for all irrational 𝑥

(b) 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑔(𝑥) for all real x

(c) 𝑓(𝑥) need not be equal to g(x) over ℝ

(d) f(x) = g(x) over ℝ iff f and g are constant functions

Q.14 - If 𝑓 and 𝑔 are continuous on ℝ, let 𝑆: = {𝑥 ∈ ℝ: 𝑓(𝑥) ≥ 𝑔(𝑥)}. If (𝑠𝑛 ) ⊆ 𝑆 and lim(𝑠𝑛 ) = 𝑠, then 𝑠 ∈ 𝑆.

(True/False)
Q.15 – Consider a function 𝑓: ℝ → ℝ satisfying 𝑓(𝑥 + 𝑦) = 𝑓(𝑥) + 𝑓(𝑦) for all 𝑥, 𝑦 in ℝ. Then which of the
following must be True?

(a) if f is continuous at some c, f is continuous at every point in ℝ

(b) If f is continuous at some c, f need not be continuous at every point in ℝ

(c) f is the constant function

(d) None of these

𝑥sin(1/𝑥), if 𝑥 ≠ 0
Q.16 - 𝑓(𝑥) = {
0, if 𝑥 = 0

Is f(x) continuous at 0 ?

Q.17 - Suppose that 𝑓 is a continuous additive function on ℝ . If 𝑐: = 𝑓(1), show that we have 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑐𝑥
for all 𝑥 ∈ ℝ . [Hint: First show that if 𝑟 is a rational number, then 𝑓(𝑟) = 𝑐𝑟 . ]

Q.18- Let 𝑓: ℝ → ℝ be defined by 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑥 −

[𝑥], where [𝑥] stands for the greatest integer less than or equal to 𝑥 . At what points is 𝑓 continuous?

Q.19 - Let 𝑓: ℝ → ℝ be defined by 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑚𝑖𝑛{𝑥 − [𝑥],1 + [𝑥] −

𝑥}, that is, the minimum of the distances of 𝑥 from [𝑥] and [𝑥] + 1 . At what points is 𝑓 continuous ?

Q.20 - Let 𝑓: 𝐽 → ℝ be continuous. Let 𝛼 ∈ Im(𝑓) . Let 𝑆: =

𝑓 −1 (𝛼) . Show that if (𝑥𝑛 ) is a sequence in 𝑆 converging to an element 𝑎 ∈ 𝐽, then 𝑎 ∈ 𝑆 .

Q.21 - Consider 𝑓: ℝ → ℝ defined as 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑥 𝑛 . Show that f is continuous at each point in ℝ.

0, 𝑥 is irrational
Q.22 – Let f : (0,1) to ℝ be defined as 𝑓(𝑥) = {
1/𝑞, 𝑥 = 𝑝/𝑞 with 𝑝, 𝑞 ∈ ℕ, 𝑝, 𝑞 have no common factor.

Then, which of the following is/ are True ?

(a) f is continuous at every rational in (0,1)

(b) f is discontinuous at every rational in (0,1)

(c) f is continuous at every irrational in (0,1)

(d) f is discontinuous at every irrational in (0,1)

Q.23 - 𝑥 = cos 𝑥 for some 𝑥 ∈ (0, 𝜋/2) . (T/F)

Q.24 -𝑥𝑒 𝑥 = 1 for some 𝑥 ∈ (0,1) . (T/F)

Q.25 - Let 𝑓: [0,1] → ℝ be continuous. Then it possible to have the image of f as [1,2] U (5,10), 𝑓(1/2) ∈ [0,1] ?

Q.26 - Let 𝑓: [0,2𝜋] → [0,2𝜋] be continuous such that 𝑓(0) = 𝑓(2𝜋) . Show that there exists 𝑥 ∈
[0,2𝜋] such that 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑓(𝑥 + 𝜋) .

[ Hint – take g(x) = f(x) – f(𝑥 + 𝜋) ]

Q.27 - Show that 𝑥 4 + 5𝑥 3 − 7 has at least two real roots.

Q.28 - Let 𝑝(𝑋): = 𝑎0 + 𝑎1 𝑋 + ⋯ + 𝑎𝑛 𝑋 𝑛 . If 𝑎0 𝑎𝑛 < 0, show that 𝑝 has at least two real roots.

Answers

1. B
2. –
3. A,C
4. A
5. A,D
6. True
7. B,C
8. D
9. B,C
10. A,C
11. True
12. A
13. A,B
14. T
15. A
16. Yes
17. –
18. –
19. –
20. –
21. -
22. B,C
23. T
24. T
25. No