# Finding points of continuity

Define a real valued function $f$ as follows: if $x\in\mathbb{R}$ is irrational, set $f(x)=0$. If $x$ is rational and non-zero, represent it as $p/q$, with $p\in\mathbb{Z}$ and $q\in\mathbb{N}$ having no common factors and let $f(x)=2^{-q}$. Set $f(0)=1$. Find all points where $f$ is continuous.

I am not entirely sure of my solution, but here it goes:

• If $x_n \to 0$ and the elements in this sequence are irrational, then $f(x_n) \to 0 \neq f(0)$, thus $f$ cannot be continuous at $0$.
• If $x\in\mathbb{R}\setminus\mathbb{Q}$, then taking $y=\frac{p}{q}\in (x-\delta,x+\delta)$ rational for any $\delta$ gives us $|f(x)-f(y)|=\frac{1}{2^q}$. Hence $f$ cannot be continuous at irrational points.
• If $x=\frac{p}{q}$ then taking $y\in (x-\delta,x+\delta)$ irrrational for any $\delta$ gives us $|f(x)-f(y)|=\frac{1}{2^q}$. Hence $f$ cannot be continuous at rational points.

This is not a homework problem, so feel free to give as much help and detail as you find necessary.

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The second bullet point seems shaky. What if such $q$ have to be really large? –  Dylan Moreland Feb 19 '12 at 21:41
Hint for start: the first dot is the same as the last dot and it is correct. The second dot is incorrect - your function is continuous at irrational points :) –  savick01 Feb 19 '12 at 21:45

## 3 Answers

Here's an $\varepsilon$-$\delta$ proof that $f$ is continuous at irrational points. Let $x_0$ be irrational. We are given $\varepsilon>0$. We seek $\delta>0$ small enough so that whenever $|x-x_0|<\delta$ then $|f(x)-f(x_0)| = f(x) < \varepsilon$. Let the nonnegative integer $q$ be large enough so that $2^{-q} < \varepsilon$. All we have to do is make $\delta$ small enough so that no rationals with denominator smaller than $q$ are in the interval $(x_0-\delta, x_0+\delta)$. Now observe that in the interval $(x_0-1, x_0+1)$ only finitely many rationals have denominator smaller than $q$. Since $x_0$ is not one of that rationals, there is some interval about $x_0$ that contains none of them.

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Your argument showing that $f$ is not continuous at any rational point is correct. However, $f$ is continuous at every irrational point. Here’s a hint to get you started; let me know if you want me to expand on it.

For any positive integer $q$ let $F_q$ be the set of rational numbers with denominator $\le q$ in lowest terms. $F_q$ has a very regular structure; what does it look like? If $x$ is an irrational, how can you find an open interval around $x$ that completely misses $F_q$?

Added: Perhaps that hint was a little misleading. Let me improve it. Let $E_q$ be the set of all rational numbers that can be written with denominator $q$, whether in lowest terms or not. Then the points of $E_q$ are evenly spaced at intervals of $1/q$ along the real line. Thus, if $x$ is any irrational, there is an integer $n$ such that $nq<x<(n+1)q$. Let $\delta_{x,q}$ be the smaller of $x-nq$ and $(n+1)q-x$; then $(x-\delta_{x,q},x+\delta_{x,q})$ is an open interval centred at $x$ and disjoint from $E_q$.

Now $F_q$ is just the union of all $E_p$ with $1\le p\le q$, so if you let $\delta'_{x,q}$ be the smallest of the $\delta_{x,p}$ with $p\le q$, $(x-\delta'_{x,q},x+\delta'_{x,q})$ will be an open interval centred at $x$ and disjoint from $F_q$. That means that if $\frac{r}s$ is a rational number in lowest terms in the interval $(x-\delta'_{x,q},x+\delta'_{x,q})$, $s>q$. What does this tell you about $\left|f(x)-f\left(\frac{r}s\right)\right|$?

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Can you please explain more? –  Galois Feb 19 '12 at 22:37
@Galois: I’ve added to my answer. –  Brian M. Scott Feb 20 '12 at 0:08

The function $f$ is discontinuous at rational points for exactly the reason you gave. However, it is continuous at irrational points. To see this, let $x$ be irrational and $(\frac{p_n}{q_n})$ be a sequence of rational points converging to $x$. Suppose we have some upper bound $Q$ for the $q_n$. Then we have that $x$ is arbitrarily close to rational points with denominator at most $Q$, of which there are only finitely many in any interval. But for $x$ to be arbitrarily close to a collection of finitely many points, it must be one of these points! This contradicts the irrationality of $x$, so we have no such upper bound $Q$. In fact, we can have no upper bound $Q$ for the denominators of any subsequence of $(\frac{p_n}{q_n})$, as any subsequence of $(\frac{p_n}{q_n})$ must also converge to $x$. Thus the $q_n$ become arbitrarily large, so $\lim\limits_{n\to\infty} 2^{-q_n}=0$. Hence $f(x)=\lim\limits_{n\to\infty} f(\frac{p_n}{q_n})$. If $(x_n)$ is a sequence of irrational numbers converging to $x$, then $f(x)=\lim\limits_{n\to\infty}f(x_n)$ as $f(x)=f(x_1)=\cdots=0$. Thus for any sequence $(x_n)$ converging to $x$, we can break it up into rational and irrational parts, each of which satisfy $\lim\limits_{n\to\infty}f(y_n)=0$, so $\lim\limits_{n\to\infty}f(x_n)=0=f(x)$, hence $f$ is continuous at $x$.

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