Lecture 5: Continuous functions on metric spaces

Definition 1. A function f : X → Y from a metric space (X, dX ) into a metric

space (Y, dY ) is continuous at a point x0 ∈ X if, for each  > 0 there is a
δ > 0 depending on  and x0 such that dX (x0 , x) < δ ⇒ dY (f (x0 ), f (x)) < .
The function is continuous on X if it is continuous for all x ∈ X.

Definition 2. Let (X, dX ) and (Y, dY ) be two metric spaces. Let A ⊂ X and
f : X → Y . Let x0 be a limit point of the domain A. The function f (x)
approaches y0 as x approaches x0 if for each open set V of Y containing y0 ,
there is an open set U of X containing x0 such that f (x) ∈ V whenever x is in
T
U A and x 6= x0 .

Definition 3. Let f : X → Y from a metric space (X, dX ) into a metric space

(Y, dY ). If x0 is an isolated point of X, then f is continuous at x0 . Otherwise,
f is continuous at x0 if f (x) → f (x0 ) as x → x0 .

Theorem 1. A function f : X → Y from a metric space (X, dX ) into a met-

ric space (Y, dY ) is continuous if and only if for every sequence {xn } in X
converging to a point x in X, the sequence {f (xn )} converges to f (x).

Theorem 2. A function f : X → Y from a metric space (X, dX ) into a metric

space (Y, dY ) is continuous if and only if for each open set O in Y , f −1 (O) is
open in X.

Corollary 1. A function f : X → Y from a metric space (X, dX ) into a metric

space (Y, dY ) is continuous if and only if for each closed set F in Y , f −1 (F ) is
closed in X.

1
Remark 1. 1. A constant function from a metric space (X, dX ) into a metric
space (Y, dY ) is continuous.

2. The identity function ix : X → X on a metric space (X, dX ) is continuous.

3. If f : X → Y is continuous and K is a subspace of X, then the restriction

function f |K : K → Y is continuous.

4. Let (X, dX ), (Y, dY ) and (Z, dZ ) be metric spaces. If a function f : X → Y

is continuous at a point x0 and a function g : Y → Z is continuous at a
point f (x0 ), then the composition g ◦ f : X → Z defined by g ◦ f (x) :=
g(f (x)) is continuous at x0 .

Theorem 3. Let (X, dX ) be a metric space. Let a function f : X → Rn be of

the form f (x) = (f1 (x), f2 (x), . . . , fn (x)). Then f : X → Rn is continuous if and
only if each function fi : X → R is continuous. The functions fi are called the
component functions of f .

: Rn → R given by
Q Q
Corollary 2. The projection function i i (x) = xi is
continuous.

Theorem 4. Let (X, dX ) be a metric space and f : X → R be continuous at

x0 ∈ X . Then f + g and f − g and f · g are continuous at x0 ; and f /g is
continuous at x0 if g(x0 ) 6= 0.