Discrete and Continuous

Functions

Raja Almukahhal
Larame Spence
Mara Landers
Nick Fiori
Art Fortgang
Melissa Vigil

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Raja Almukahhal
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Larame Spence
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Mara Landers
Nick Fiori
Art Fortgang
Melissa Vigil
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www.ck12.org Chapter 1. Discrete and Continuous Functions

C HAPTER
1 Discrete and Continuous
Functions
Here you will learn to identify discrete and non-discrete functions. You will also explore applications of each.
Is a bank account balance a continuous function? How about number of pets per household? Gallons of gas in your
car? Number of days that students rode bikes to school in a given week?
These are all functions, but they are different types of functions. This Concept is all about learning the difference.

Discrete and Continuous Functions

Imagine taking a poll to learn the most popular band in school. You interview a large and representative cross-section
of students, asking each one how many CD’s they have purchased supporting his/her favorite band. You decide that
the band with the most CD’s sold should be the ’winner’. Wouldn’t you be surprised to see numbers like 3.2 or 5.7
on your graph? Who buys .2 or .7 CD’s?
Now imagine comparing the CD count to the age of the students to see if some bands are more popular with particular
age groups. You add birthdate information to your graph. Would you be surprised to see an average student age of
15.4 or 16.7 years? Of course not, you would probably be a lot more surprised to see an average of exactly 15 or 16
years old.
The difference between these functions is the topic of this lesson. The number of CD’s in the first group is a discrete
function, since it is very unlikely that someone would purchase a fraction of a CD. The ages in the second count are
a continuous function, since people age constantly and particularly at younger ages keep track more accurately than
just "years old".

Discrete Functions

A discrete function is a function in which the domain and range are each a discrete set of values, rather than an
interval in R. Recall from a prior lesson that an interval includes all values between the specified minimum and
maximum. If a function is discrete, it does not include all of the values between two given numbers, but rather only
specific values in a particular range.

Non-Discrete Functions

A non-discrete function is one that is continuous either on its entire domain, or on intervals within its domain. The
term continuous refers to a function whose graph has no holes or breaks. (Note that this is not a formal definition.
To formally define continuity requires that we use the concept of limit, which we will examine in the next lesson.
For now it is sufficient to focus on what the graph looks like.)

MEDIA
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Examples

Example 1

Earlier, you were given some examples of different types of functions.

Identify the examples given as either discrete or continuous:

a. A bank account

The balance in a bank account is counted in dollars and cents, any change is countable and quantifiable. This is an
example of a discrete function.

b. The number of pets in a household

Discrete function, since one does not generally have a fraction of a pet.

c. Age of students taking this class

Continuous function, there is no limit to the level of accuracy you could apply to the age of each student since time
is continuous.

d. Number of days that students rode bikes to school

Discrete, the question suggests a specific count of number of days.

Example 2

Identify the function as either continuous or discrete based on the graph:

This graph shows a continuous function, as there are no holes identified on the line, and also no endpoints.

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Example 3

Identify the function as either continuous or discrete based on the equation:

y = x3 − 3x

The function is continuous, as there is no restriction on the values which may be input for x.
Note that this is not a straight line, or even a simple curve like y = x2 . A graph need not be straight or simple to be
continuous.
For Examples 4 and 5, use the following information.
Mark is working at the local fast food restaurant and earns $7.15 per hour. The following table shows the amount of
money he earns by working a particular number of hours per week.

TABLE 1.1:
Hours Worked Money Earned
1 $7.15
3 $21.45
7 $50.05
12 $85.80
15 $107.25

Example 4

Does the table above represent data that is "continuous" or "discrete"? Explain your answer. Write an equation that
models the data.
The data can be considered continuous because Mark might work any length of time, resulting in any amount of
income.
Mark earns $7.15 in each hour he works. His income can be represented by: income = hours X $7.15 or y = $7.15x.

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Example 5

Use your equation to predict what Mark’s salary will be if he works 40 hours.
Mark’s income after 40 hours will be $7.15 · 40 = $286.00

Review

Identify each of the following variables as being either discrete or continuous.

1. The number of telephone calls received at school in a given week.

2. The weight of a bag of oranges.
3. The length of a piece of rope.
4. Speed of a truck.
5. The number of misdemeanor arrests in a town.
6. Number of flaws in a bolt of fabric.
7. The population of the Bald Eagle.
8. A person’s age.
9. Does the graph below represent a Continuous or a Discrete Domain?

10. The equation f = 0.305m can be used to convert meters into feet. Is the domain of this function discrete or
continuous?
11. Your local gardener tells you that your corn plant will grow 1.25” taller each month. It is now 6’ tall. Write
a formula that will tell you how tall your plant is at any time in the future. Is there a continuous or a discrete
domain?
12. You can buy T-shirts for $12.00, or hats for $15.00. Write an equation showing how much you will spend (y)
for any combination of hats (h) and t-shirts (t) that you purchase. Is the domain discrete or continuous?

For questions 13-15, use the following information:

A local neighborhood homeowners association is asking the community residents to participate in a recycling
initiative. At the end of each week, each resident is asked submit the number of plastic containers they recycle
to the HOA. The data collected was compiled into the following table:

TABLE 1.2:
House # Plastic Containers
1 28
2 49
3 35
4 62
5 41
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13. Does this table represent data that is "continuous" or "discrete"? Explain your answer
14. Why can you not really write an equation to model the data?
15. Can you predict how many plastic containers the 6th house on the block will recycle the next week?

Review (Answers)

To see the Review answers, open this PDF file and look for section 1.6.