CONTINUITY

1. DefinitionofContinuousataPoint
Interior point: A function y = f (x) is continuous at an interior point c of its domain
if
lim f ( x) = f (c) .
x c

Endpoint: A function y = f (x) is continuous at a left endpoint a or is continuous at a

right endpoint b of its domain if
lim+ f ( x) = f (a)
or
lim f ( x) = f (b) ,
respectively.
x a

x b

If a function is not continuous at a point c, we say that is discontinuous at c and c is

a point of discontinuity of . Note that c need not be in the domain of . A function is
right-continuous (continuous from the right) at x = c a point in its domain if
lim+ f ( x) = f (c) .
x c

It is left- continuous (continuous from the left) at c if

lim f ( x) = f (c) .
x c

Thus, a function is continuous at a left endpoint a of its domain if it is right-continuous

at a and continuous at a right endpoint b of its domain if it is leftcontinuous at b. A
function is continuous at an interior point c of its domain if and only if it is both rightcontinuous and left-continuous at c (Figure ).

Fig 6 Continuity at points a, b, and c.

2. ContinuityTest
A function (x) is continuous at x = c if and only if it meets the following three
conditions.
(1) (c) exists
(c lies in the domain of )
(2) lim f ( x) exists
( has a limit as x c )
xc

(3) lim f ( x) = f (c)

x c

Analysis Method

(the limit equals the function value)

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3. ContinuousFunctions
A function is continuous on an interval if and only if it is continuous at every point of
the interval. A continuous function is one that is continuous at every point of its
domain.

4. PropertiesofContinuousFunctions
If the functions and g are continuous at x = c , then the following combinations are
continuous at x = c .
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)

Sums:
Differences:
Products:
Constant multiples:
Quotients:
Powers:

f +g
f g
f g
k f for any number k
f / g provided g (c) 0
f r s provided it is defined on an open interval containing c,
where r and s are integers.

5. Composites(CompositeFunction)
All composites of continuous functions are continuous. The idea is that if (x) is
continuous at x = c and g(x) is continuous at x = f (c) , then g D f is continuous at
x = c . (Figure). In this case, the limit as x c is g ( f (c)) .

Fig 7 Composites of continuous functions are continuous.

Composite of Continuous Functions
If is continuous at c and g is continuous at (c), then the composite g D f is
continuous at c.

6. IntermediateValueTheoremforContinuousFunctions
Functions that are continuous on intervals have properties that make them particularly
useful in mathematics and its applications. One of these is the Intermediate Value
Property. A function is said to have the Intermediate Value Property if whenever it
takes on two values, it also takes on all the values in between.

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7. TheIntermediateValueTheoremforContinuousFunctions
A function y = f (x) that is continuous on a closed interval [a, b] takes on every value
between (a) and (b). In other words, if y 0 is any value between (a) and (b), then
y0 = f (c) for some c in [a, b].

Fig 9 Intermediate value

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