Is the function defined by
$f(x)=\left\{\begin{array}{l}x+5, \text { if } x \leq 1 \\ x-5, \text { if } x>1\end{array}\right.$
a continuous function?
The given function is $f(x)=\left\{\begin{array}{l}x+5, \text { if } x \leq 1 \\ x-5, \text { if } x>1\end{array}\right.$
The given function f is defined at all the points of the real line.
Let c be a point on the real line.
Case I:
If $c<1$, then $f(c)=c+5$ and $\lim _{x \rightarrow c} f(x)=\lim _{x \rightarrow c}(x+5)=c+5$
$\therefore \lim _{x \rightarrow c} f(x)=f(c)$
Therefore, f is continuous at all points x, such that x < 1
Case II:
If $c=1$, then $f(1)=1+5=6$
The left hand limit of f at x = 1 is,
$\lim _{x \rightarrow 1^{-}} f(x)=\lim _{x \rightarrow 1^{-}}(x+5)=1+5=6$
The right hand limit of f at x = 1 is,
$\lim _{x \rightarrow 1^{+}} f(x)=\lim _{x \rightarrow 1^{\prime}}(x-5)=1-5=-4$
It is observed that the left and right hand limit of f at x = 1 do not coincide.
Therefore, f is not continuous at x = 1
Case III:
If $c>1$, then $f(c)=c-5$ and $\lim _{x \rightarrow c} f(x)=\lim _{x \rightarrow c}(x-5)=c-5$
$\therefore \lim _{x \rightarrow c} f(x)=f(c)$
Therefore, $f$ is continuous at all points $x$, such that $x>1$
Thus, from the above observation, it can be concluded that x = 1 is the only point of discontinuity of f.