MATH 370: Practice Questions

Definitions
Complete the following definitions.

1. A set X is countable if ... there exists a bijection of X with a subset of N

2. The least upper bound property of the set of real numbers R with its usual ordering <
states that ... every nonempty subset of R that is bounded above has a least upper
bound.

3. A sequence (an ) of real numbers converges to a real number L if ... for every > 0
there exists an N such that n > N implies |an L| < .

4. Let f : I R be a function where I is a nonempty subset of R and let x0 I and L a

real number. The limit of f (x) as x approaches x0 is L if ... for every sequence (an )
of real numbers in I \ {x0 } the sequence of values f (an ) converges to L.
Alternatively, for every > 0 there exists a > 0 such that

for any x I, 0 < |x x0 | < implies |f (x) L| < .

5. Let f : I R be a function where I is a nonempty subset of R and let x0 I. The

function f is continuous at x0 if ... for every > 0 there exists a > 0 such that

for any x I, |x x0 | < implies |f (x) f (x0 )| < .

It would also be correct to say the limit of f (x) as x approaches x0 is f (x0 ) or even to
say that something like both the left hand and right hand limits exists and their values
coincide. However, these answers are not self-contained and would only receive partial
credit unless it is further explained what the phrase limit of f (x) as x approaches x0
means, in the first case, or, in the second case, how the one-sided limits are defined.

6. Let f : I R be a function where I is a nonempty subset of R. The function f is

uniformly continuous if ... for every > 0 there exists a > 0 such that

for any x, y I, |x y| < implies |f (x) f (y)| < .

Short Answers
1. Determine which of the following sets cannot be the set of subsequential limits of a
sequence of real numbers. Briefly justify your answer.
[0, 1]
(0, 1)
{1/n}nN
{0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5}
The set of subsequential limits is closed, i.e. it contains all its limit points. Since 0 is
a limit point of both the second and the third examples but is not contained in either
of them, these sets cannot arise as the set of subsequential limits of some sequence.
Recall that a limit point of a set E R is a real number z that can be realized as
the limit of a sequence in E \ {z}. Equivalently, for any > 0 there exists an x E
different from z such that |x z| < . 0 happens to be a limit point of the first three
examples, but not the fourth. The last example is a closed set because the set of limit
points is empty.
X n3 + 1
2. Determine if the series (1)n is convergent, and if so, whether the conver-
n4 + 1
gence is absolute or conditional.
n3 + 1 1
Since 4 and the harmonic series diverges, it follows that the original series is
n +1 n
not absolutely convergent. The alternating series test applies to show that the original
series is convergent, hence conditionally convergent. To verify that the hypotheses of
the alternating series test are satisfied note that the series is clearly alternating with
terms tending to zero, so it suffices to check that the terms are eventually decreasing.
This could be shown directly, although in practice, one applies techniques of calculus
(which we shall develop later) and reduce the problem to verifying that f 0 (x) < 0
x3 + 1
for x large enough where f (x) = 4 . Logarithmic differentiation facilitates this
x +1
computation:
f 0 (x) d 3x2 4x3
= log f (x) = 3 4 <0
f (x) dx x +1 x +1
holds iff 3(x4 + 1) < 4x(x3 + 1) iff x4 + 4x > 3 which holds for all x > 1. Hence, the
argument using calculus shows

n3 + 1 (n + 1)3 + 1
< for all n 1.
n4 + 1 (n + 1)4 + 1

Even though the above can be obtained directly via elementary means (cross multiply,
then simplify...!!!), the approach using calculus is much easier to carry out.

3. Determine which of the following properties the given function possess: bounded, con-
tinuous, uniformly continuous
f (x) = 1/x on (0, 1] continuous, unbounded, not uniformly continuous
 g(x) = 1/x on [1, ) continuous, bounded, uniformly continuous
h(x) = sin(1/x) on (0, 1] continuous, bounded, not uniformly continuous
k(x) = x sin(1/x) on (0, 1] continuous, bounded, uniformly continuous

4. For which values of p [0, 1] is the function g(x) = xp sin(1/x) on (0, 1] extendible to
a continuous function on [0, 1] ?
Consider the extension obtained by setting g(0) = 0. This extension is continuous at
x = 0 for any p (0, 1] because given > 0, we can choose = 1/p so that |x| <
implies |xp | < , which implies the extension is continuous at x = 0. Continuity of
the extension at all other points follows from continuity of g on (0, 1]. If p = 0, no
extension is possible because g(x) is not uniformly continuous.

Short Proofs

1. Prove that
2 + 3 is irrational.
If x = 2 + 3, then it satisfies (x2 5) = 24 or x4 10x2 + 1 = 0. If x was rational,
then it would have to be 1, which it obviously isnt. Hence, x is irrational.

2. Let A and B be nonempty subsets of R such that for each a A there exists a b B
such that a < b. What can you say about sup A and sup B ?
For any a A the hypothesis implies a < sup B since there exists a b B such that
a < b and b sup B (because sup B is an upper bound for B). Thus, sup B is an
upper bound for A. Since sup A is the least upper bound of A, sup A sup B.

3. Let a1 = 1 and for n 1 letan+1 = a n + 1. Prove that the sequence converges.
Since a1 1 and an+1 = an+ 1 2 1 if an 1, we have an 1 for all n.
Similarly, a1 < 2 and an+1 = an + 1 < 3 < 2 if an < 2, so we have an < 2 for
all n. From the recurrence relation we see that the limit, if it exists, must satisfy
2
L = 1 + L, or equivalently,
L L 1 = 0, or L = (1 5)/2. Since L [0, 2), we
deduce that L = (1 + 5)/2, if it exists. Arguing by s induction as before, we see that

2+ 5 1+ 5
1 an < L for all n (which reduces to checking that < ). It follows
2 2
that a2n < an + 1 = a2n+1 , which shows that an is increasing. The existence of L (that
is, convergence of the sequence) now follows from the fundamental theorem that any
bounded monotone sequence has a limit.

4. Show that the limit of a convergent sequence is uniquely determined.

Suppose L and L0 and both the limits of a convergence sequence (an ). Then given any
> 0 there is an N such that n > N implies |an L| < /2 and |an L0 | < /2. The
triangle inequality now implies |L L0 | |L an | + |an L0 | < . Since > 0 was
arbitrary, it follows that L = L0 .

5. Show that a convergent sequence is Cauchy.

Let L be the limit of a convergent sequence (an ). Given > 0 there is an N such that
 n > N implies |an L| < /2. Hence, given m, n > N the triangle inequality implies
|am an | |am L| + |L an | < . This shows that the sequence is Cauchy.

6. Prove that x3 + x + 1 has a real root.

The function f (x) = x3 + x + 1 is continuous and satisfies f (0) = 1 and f (1) = 1.
The intermediate value theorem implies there is some z, 1 < z < 0 such that f (z) = 0.

x5 + 5
7. Prove that 2 is bounded on [0, 10].
x +1
Since x5 + 5 0 for x 0, the function x5 + 5 is defined on [0, 10] and being a
2
continuous functions, it is also continuous. Since x + 1 6= 0 for any x,
composition of
x5 + 5
the function 2 is continuous on [0, 10], and since its domain is a closed interval,
x +1
the function is necessarily bounded.