6 Continuous Functions Let be a real-valued function whose domain of definition is set of E of real numbers.

We say that is continuous at the point in E if given > 0, there is a > 0 such that for all y in E with |-y| < we have | () (y)| < . The function is said to be continuous on a subset A of E if it is continuous at each point of A. If we merely say that is continuous, we mean that is continuous on its domain.

17. Proposition: Let be a real-valued function defined and continuous on a closed and bounded set F. Then is bounded F and assumes its maximum and minimum on F; that is, there are point 1 and x2 in F such that (x1) (x) (x2) for all x in F. Proof:: We shall first show that is bound on F. Since is continuous on F, for each x F there is an open interval I x containing x such that | (y) (x) | < 1 for y Ix F. Thus for y Ix F, we have | (y) | | (x)| + 1 and so is bounded in Ix.. The collection {Ix: x F} is a collection of open intervals which covers F, and by that covers F , and by the Heine-Borel Theorem there is a finite subcollection {Ix1, . . ., I2} that covers F. Let M = 1 + max [ | (x1), . . . , | (xn)]. Then each y in F belongs to some interval Ixk in the finite subcollection, and hence | (y) | < 1 + | (xk) M. This show that is bounded (by M) on F. . Since is bounded, m is finite, and our goal is to show that there is an 1 F such that (x) < m for each x F, and by To see that assumes its maximum on F, let m = continuity there is an open interval Ix containing x such that (y) < ( (x) + m) for all y I x F. Again using the Heine-Borel Theorem, we can find a finite number of these intervals {I x1 , . . . , I xn} that cover F. Set a = max [ (x1), . . . , (xn)]. Then each y F belongs to one such interval Ixk and (y) < [(xk) + m] ( + m). Thus ( + m) is a bound for on F. But this is impossible, since (+m) < m. Consequently, there must be an x1 such that (x1) = m. Similarly, there is an x2 at which assumes its minimum.

18. Propositions: Let be a real-valued function defined on ( ). Then is -1 continuous if and only if for each open set O of real number [ O ] is an open set. Proof: Suppose -1 [O] is open for each open set O, and let x be an arbitrary real number. Then, given > 0, the interval I = ( (x) , (x) + ) is an open set, and so its inverse image -1 [ -1 I ] must be open. Since x -1 [ I ], there must be some > 0 such that (x , x + ) [ I ]. But this implies that if |y x| < , the (y) ( (x) , (x) + ); that is | (x) (y)| < . Hence is continuous at x. Since x was arbitrary, is continuous.

Suppose now that is continuous and that O is an open set. Let x be a point of -1 [ O ]. Then (x) O, and there is an > 0 such that ( (x) , (x) + ) O. Since is continuous at x, there is a > 0 such that | (x) (y)| < for |x y| < . Thus, for every y (x , x + ), we -1 have (y) ( (x) + ) 0. Hence (x , x + ) [ O ], and so -1 [ O ] is open. 19. Proposition (Intermediate Value Theorem): Let be continuous real-valued function on [,b] and suppose that () (b) [or (b) (); then there is a point c [,b] such that (c) = . Definition: A real-valued function defined on a set E is said to be uniformly continuous (on E) if given > 0, there is a > 0 such that for all x and y in E with |x y| < we have | (x) (y)| < . 20. Proposition: If a real-valued function is defined and continuous on a closed and bounded set F of real numbers, it is uniformly continuous on F. Proof:: Given > 0 and x in F, There is a x > 0 such that |x y| < x implies | (x) (y)| < . Let Ox be the interval (x - x, x + x). Then {Ox: x F} is an open covering of F. By the Heine-Borel Theorem there is a finite subcollection {Ox1, . . . , Oxn} that covers F. Let = min (x1, . . . , x n). Then is positive. Given two points y and z in F such that |y z| < , the point y must belong to some Oxi , and hence there is an I such that | y xi| < xi. Consequently, |z xi| | z y | + | y xi| < xi + xi. Hence | (y) (xi)| < and |(z) (xi)| < , whence |(z) (y)| < , Showing that is uniformly continuous on F.

Definition: A sequence n of functions defined on a set E is said to converge pointwise on E to a function if for every x in E we have (x) = lim n(x); that is, if, given x E and > 0, there is an N such that for all n N, we have | (x) n(x)| < .

Definition: A sequence n of functions defined on a set E is said to converge uniformly on E if given > 0, there is an N such that for all x E and all n N, we have | (x) n(x)| < .

Problems

40. Let F be a closed set of real numbers and a real-valued function which is defined and continuous on F. Show that there is a function defined and continuous on ( -, ) such that (x) = (x) for each F. [Hint: Take to be linear in each of the intervals of which F is composed.] 41. Let be a real-valued function with domain E. Prove that is continuous if and only if for each open set O there is an open set U such that -1[ O ] = E U. 42. Let n be a sequence of continuous functions defined on a set E. Prove that if n converges uniformly to on E, then is continuous on E. 43. Let be that function defined by setting {

At what point is

continuous? and are continuous functions, then the functions and are continuous, then so is . + and

44. a. Show that if are continuous. b. Show that if

c. Let be the function defined by ( )() = () (), and defined similarly. Show that if and are continuous, so are and . d. If is continuous, then so is | |.

45. Prove Proposition 19. 46. A real-valued function is said to be monotone increasing if () (y) whenever y, and strictly monotone increasing if () < (y) whenever < y. It is called monotone ( or strictly monotone) if or is monotone (or strictly monotone) increasing. Let be a

continuous function on the interval [ ,b ]. Then there is a continuous function such that ( () ) = for all [ ,b ] if and only if is strictly monotone. In this case we also have ((y)) = y for each y between () and (b). A function which has a continuous inverse is called a homeomorphism (between its domain and its range). 47. A continuous function on [ ,b ] is called polygonal (or piecewise linear) if there is a subdivision = 0 < 1 < . . . < n = b such that is linear on each interval [ 1, i+1]. Let be an arbitrary continuous function on [ ,b] and a positive number. Show that there is a polygonal function on [ ,b ] with | () ()| < for all [ ,b ]. 48. Let be a real number in [ 0,1 ] with the ternary expansion n (cf. Problem 22). Let N = if none of the n are 1, and otherwise let N be the smallest value of n such that an = 1. Let bn = n for n < N and bN = 1. Show that

is independent of the ternary expansion of (if has two expansions) and that the function defined by setting

is a continuous, monotone function on the interval [ 0,1 ]. Show that is constant on each interval contained in the complement of the Cantor ternary set (Problem 37), and that maps the Cantor ternary set onto the interval [0,1]. (This function is called the Cantor ternary function.) 49. Limit superior of a function of a real variable. Let be a real (or extended real) valued function defined for all in an interval containing y. We define
| |

() ()

With similar definition for lim. a. if and only if, given > 0, there is a > 0 such that for all with

0 < | y | < we have () A + .

b.

if and only if, given > 0 and > 0, there is an such that 0 < | ) if and only if

y | < and () A . c. with equality (for lim d. If

and n is a sequence with n y such that y = lim n, then , then there is a sequence n with n y such that y = lim n if and only if = lim (n) for every

lim (n) A. e. If

and A = lim (n). f. For a real number we have =

sequence n with n y and y = lim n. 50. Semicontinuous functions. An extended real-valued function semicontinouous at the point y if (y) - and (y) . Similarly, is called upper semicontinuous at y if ( (y) + and (y) is called lower

We say

that is lower (upper) semicontinuous on an interval if it is lower (upper) semicontinuous at each point of the interval. The function is upper semicontinuous if and only if the function is lower semicontinuous. a. Let (y) be finite. Prove that is lower semicontinuous at y if and only if given > 0, > 0 such that (y) () + for all with | y | < . b. A function is continuous ( at a point or in an interval) if and only if it is both upper and lower semicontinuous (at the point or in the interval). c. Show that a real-valued function is lower semicontinuous on (, b) if and only if the set {:() > } is open for each real number . d. Show that if and are lower semicontinuous functions, so are and + . e. Let n be a sequence of lower semicontinuous functions. Show that the function defined by () = is also lower semicontinuous. f. A real-valued function defined on an interval [ ,b ] is called a step function if there is a partition = 0 < 1 < . . . n = b such that for each i the function assumes only one value in the interval (i, i+1). Show that a step function is lower semicontinuous iff (i) is less than or equal to the smaller of the two values assumed in (i-1, i) and (i,i+1). g. A function defined on a interval [ ,b ] is lower semicontinuous if and only if there is a monotone increasing sequence n of lower semicontinuous step functions on [ ,b ] such that for each [ ,b ] we have () = lim n().

h. A function defined on [ ,b ] is lower semicontinuous if and only if there is a monotone increasing sequence ( n) of continuous functions such that () = lim n() for each in [ ,b ]. [Hint: Modify the functions n in part () to make them continuous.] i. Prove that a function that is defined and lower semicontinouous on a closed interval [ ,b ] is bounded from below and assumes its minimum on [ ,b ], that is, that there is a y [ ,b ] such that (y) () for all [ ,b ]. 51. Upper and lower envelopes of a function. Let be a real-valued function defined on [ ,b ]. We define the lower envelope of to be the function defined by (y) = and the upper envelope h by h(y) =
| | | |

().

a. For each [ ,b ], () () h(), and () = () if and only if is lower semicontinuous at , while () = h() if and only if is continuous at . b. If is bounded, the function is lower semicontinuous, while h is upper semicontinuous. c. If is any lower semicontinuous function such that () () for all [ ,b ], then () () for all [,b].