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MATH 370: Homework 6

This document contains 8 math problems as homework assignments: 1. Prove the absolute value function |x| is continuous on the real numbers. 2. Prove an identity relating the maximum of two real numbers to their sum and difference. 3. Prove the function that assigns 1 to rationals and 0 to irrationals is not continuous anywhere. 4. Give an example of a bounded continuous function on a half-open or closed ray domain that fails to achieve its maximum. 5. Prove every polynomial of odd degree has a real root using limits and the intermediate value theorem.

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Kumar Keshaw Shahi
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36 views

MATH 370: Homework 6

This document contains 8 math problems as homework assignments: 1. Prove the absolute value function |x| is continuous on the real numbers. 2. Prove an identity relating the maximum of two real numbers to their sum and difference. 3. Prove the function that assigns 1 to rationals and 0 to irrationals is not continuous anywhere. 4. Give an example of a bounded continuous function on a half-open or closed ray domain that fails to achieve its maximum. 5. Prove every polynomial of odd degree has a real root using limits and the intermediate value theorem.

Uploaded by

Kumar Keshaw Shahi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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MATH 370: Homework 6

Due Thursday, 3/16 in class

Reading: Ross 1.17, 1.18, 1.19

1. Prove that |x| is a continuous function on R.


Given x0 ∈ R and ε > 0, we shall show that

|x − x0 | < δ implies ||x| − |x0 || < ε

if we set δ := ε. There are 2 cases. If x and x0 have the same sign (including the
possibility that one or both are zero) then ||x| − |x0 || = |x − x0 | < δ = ε. Otherwise,
||x| − |x0 || ≤ |x| + |x0 | = |x − x0 | < δ = ε.

2. Prove that for any two real numbers x and y

x + y |x − y|
max(x, y) = + .
2 2
Suppose x ≤ y. Then

x + y |x − y| x+y y−x
+ = + = y = max(x, y)
2 2 2 2
proving the claim when x ≤ y. If x > y, we can apply the special case proved with the
roles of x and y reversed to obtain the same conclusion.
In ordinary mathematical exposition, the argument might be presented more last sen-
tence can be omitted if the first sentence is substituted with ”Without loss of generality,
we may assume x ≤ y.”

3. Prove that the function f : R → {0, 1} defined as f (x) = 1 if x is rational and f (x) = 0
if x is irrational, is not continuous anywhere.
Let x0 ∈ R be given. If x0 is irrational, we let (xn ) be a sequence of rational numbers
converging to x0 , while if x0 is rational, we let (xn ) be a sequence of irrational numbers
converging to x0 . Assuming the existence of the said sequence, in either case, f (xn ) is
a constant sequence whose limit is not f (x0 ), which shows that f is not continuous at
x0 .
The construction of the sequence (xn ) relies on the fact that every interval contains
both a rational as well as an irrational. In the first case, this is a consequence of the
density of rationals, whereas in the second case it follows from the fact that every
interval has uncountably many points of which at most countably many are rational.
Specifically, we may choose xn to be any rational (or irrational in the second case)
lying in the interval (x0 − 1/n, x0 + 1/n). Then |xn − x0 | > 1/n from which it follows
that xn → x0 as n → ∞.
4. Show that a bounded continuous function f : I → R can fail to achieve its maximum
if its domain I is a half-open interval or a closed ray.
The identity function on f (x) = x on [0, 1) has the following two properties: first,
f (x) < 1 for each x ∈ [0, 1); and second, f achieves every (nonnegative) value strictly
less than one. If a maximum value M existed, it must be < 1 by the first property,
but the second property implies there is a value M 0 strictly between M and 1 that is
also achieved, contradicting the definition of M .
x x
The function f (x) = is bounded on [0, ∞) since < 1 for any x ≥ 0. The
1+x 1+x
function is increasing since 0 ≤ x < y implies
x 1 1
f (x) = =1− <1− = f (y).
1+x 1+x 1+y
If f attained its maximum value at some point x0 ≥ 0, then f (x0 + 1) > f (x0 ) so that
f (x0 ) is not the largest value attainable, a contradiction. Hence, f cannot achieve its
maximum on [0, ∞).
5. Show that every polynomial of odd degree has a real root.
Let f (x) = an xn + . . . a1 x + a0 be a polynomial of odd degree n. Then either an > 0
and limx→∞ f (x) = +∞ and limx→−∞ f (x) = −∞ or an < 0 and limx→∞ f (x) = −∞
and limx→−∞ f (x) = +∞. In either case, we can conclude there is a real number a
such that f (a) > 0. Similarly, we can also conclude there is a real number b such that
f (b) < 0. By the intermediate value theorem, there is a real number c between a and
b such that f (c) = 0.
√
6. Show that f (x) = x sin(1/x) for x 6= 0 and f (0) = 0 is uniformly continuous on [0, 1].
(You may assume that the sine function is continuous.)
Since any continuous function on a closed interval is uniformly continuous, it suffices
to show that f is continuous. Assuming the sine function is continuous (as permitted),
it follows that f is continuous on (0, 1]. Hence, only the continuous at x = 0 remains
to be checked.
√
Assuming x is continuous (as we may since it was shown in class), in particular,
continuity at √ x = 0 implies that given any ε > 0 there exists a δ > 0 such that if
|x|
√ < δ then x < ε. Since | sin(1/x)| ≤ 1, it follows that |x| < δ implies |f (x)| =
x| sin(1/x) < ε. Hence, f is continuous at x = 0, as desired.
7. Show that sin(1/x) is not uniformly continuous on (0, 1].
It suffices to show that for some ε > 0 there is no δ > 0 such that |x − y| < δ
implies | sin(1/x) − sin(1/y)| < ε. We shall do this for ε = 1. Given δ > 0, we choose
x, y ∈ (0, δ) so that sin(1/x) = 1 and sin(1/y) = −1. (For example, we can let x (resp.
y) be the reciprocal of (n + 1/2)π (resp. of (n + 3/2)π) for some integer n > 1/δ.)
Then |x − y| < δ but | sin(1/x) − sin(1/y)| = 2 > ε.
8. (BONUS) Show that sin(1/x) cannot be extended to a continuous function on [0, 1].
If it could, the extended function would be uniformly continuous. The original function
could be recovered as the restriction of the extended function to (0, 1]. Since the
restriction of a uniformly continuous function is necessarily uniformly continuous, we
would obtain a contradiction to the result of the previous exercise.

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