Basic Idea:

A real function f is said to be continuous at x = c, where c is any point in the domain of f if :

where h is a very small ‘+ve’ no.

i.e. left hand limit as x → c (LHL) = right hand limit as x → c (RHL) = value of function at x = c.

This is very precise, using our fundamental idea of limit from class 11 we can summarise it as, A function is continuous at x = c if :

Here we have,

…Equation 1

Function is defined for all real numbers so we need to comment about its continuity for all numbers in its domain ( domain = set of numbers for which f is defined )

Let c is any random number such that c ≠ 0 [thus c being a random number, it can include all numbers except 0 ]

f(c) = [ using eqn 1]

Clearly,

∴ We can say that f(x) is continuous for all x ≠ 0

As zero is a point at which function is changing its nature, so we need to check the continuity here.

f(0) = –1 [using eqn 1]

and,

Thus

∴ f(x) is continuous at x = 0

Hence, f is continuous for all x.

f(x) is continuous everywhere.

No point of discontinuity.