I am reading Chapter 1 Example 11 of 'Counterexamples in Analysis' by Gelbaum and Olmstead. This section illustrates counterexamples of functions defined on Q embedded in R of statements that are usually true for functions defined on a real domain. Almost all examples have the assumption that the function (defined on a rational domain) is continuous, for example, the book gives a counterexample of:
A function continuous and bounded on a closed interval but not
uniformly continuous.
My questions are, what is an example of a discontinuous real function defined on Q, that is: f:Q→R? Are all functions defined on Q discontinuous (similar to how functions defined on the set of natural numbers are always continuous)?
Answer
1). All functions defined on N are continuous (not discontinuous).
2). An example of a function f:Q→R that is discontinuous is f=χ{0}, i.e. f(x)=1 iff x=0 (x∈Q). One can see that this is discontinuous by noting that f(1n)=0 for each n≥1, while f(limn1n)=f(0)=1.
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