Real functions Limits and continuity Counterexample
Conway base 13 function
Builds on Darboux functionIntermediate value theoremContinuous function
Counterexample
Use base with the thirteen digits , in this order. For , take the base- expansion of the fractional part of that does not end in an infinite string of the last digit. Suppose that from some position on, this expansion has the form This tail consists of a sign symbol and finitely many digits . Then comes the point symbol, and after it only digits . Then set , read as an ordinary decimal number. Otherwise set .
Each open interval contains all numbers with a fixed integer part whose expansion begins with a suitable finite block of digits. After that block, any tail can be appended. So for each real , some has a tail that encodes , and .
Remarks
The function maps every interval onto , so it is a Darboux function: it has the intermediate value property. But is continuous at no point, since its values on every interval are unbounded. So the converse of the intermediate value theorem fails badly. Almost every real number has a base- expansion with infinitely many point symbols, so almost everywhere.
Reading path
To understand this page from the ground up, read these 7 pages in order. The foundations come first.
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- no evidence level
- Darboux function concept
- Limit point of a set definition
- Limit of a function definition
- Continuity at a point definition
- Continuous function definition
- Intermediate value theorem statement
- Conway base 13 function counterexample
Where this leads
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Further reading
About this page
| Tag | 91YF82M8AA |
|---|---|
| URI | m2://91YF82M8AA |
| Kind | counterexample |
| Writing | W0 stub |
| MSC | 26A15 |
| Uses | Darboux function, Intermediate value theorem, Continuous function |
| Same as | |
| Changed | 2 November 2026 |
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