Tuesday, 22 July 2014

irrational numbers - How can I prove that no limit exists for this function over this particular interval?



I was given the following function: f(x)={1qif x=pq is rational, reduced to lowest terms0if x is irrational
And was asked to attempt to prove or disprove whether or not, for some j on the interval (0,1), lim exists.
Intuitively, I know that I can find an irrational number between any two rationals which would obviously result in some discontinuity. I considered the idea that maybe it could be possible assuming that among the infinitely many rationals on the interval which also share a common denominator and could be used to find the limit, but that obviously would not work. However, I cannot formulate any proper line of reason to prove the limit does not exist.
How can I prove this, as formally as possible?


Answer



Recall the definition of \lim_{x \to j}f(x)=a:




\mbox{Given}\ \varepsilon > 0\ \mbox{there exists}\ \delta > 0\\ \mbox{such that}\ \left| f(x) - a\right|<\varepsilon\\ \mbox{whenever}\ 0<\left| x-j \right| <\delta



Now for any j, given \varepsilon>0, if we choose \delta small enough we can ensure that the denominator q of any fraction \frac{p}{q} (in its lowest terms) in the interval \left(j-\delta,j+\delta\right) satisfies q>\frac{1}{\varepsilon}, except possibly for j itself, if it is rational. So that 0\le\left| f(x)\right|<\varepsilon whenever 0<\left|x-j\right|<\delta.



Plugging this into the definition of a limit we see:



\lim_{x\to j}f(x) = 0\ \mbox{for all}\ j\in\left(0,1\right)



Now a function g is continuous at j iff \lim_{x\to j}g(x)=g(j). It follows that f is discontinuous at rational points and continuous at irrational points.


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