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Complex Analysis/Complex Functions/Continuous Functions

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In this section, we

  • introduce a 'broader class of limits' than known from real analysis (namely limits with respect to a subset of ) and
  • characterise continuity of functions mapping from a subset of the complex numbers to the complex numbers using this 'class of limits'.

Limits of complex functions with respect to subsets of the preimage

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We shall now define and deal with statements of the form

for , and prove two lemmas about these statements.

Definition 2.2.1:

Let be a set, let be a function, let , let and let . If

we define:

Lemma 2.2.2:

Let be a set, let be a function, let , let and . If

then

Proof: Let be arbitrary. Since

there exists a such that

But since , we also have , and thus

and therefore

Lemma 2.2.3:

Let , be a function, be open, and . If

then for all such that  :

Proof

Let such that .

First, since is open, we may choose such that .

Let now be arbitrary. As

there exists a such that:

We define and obtain:

Continuity of complex functions

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We recall that a function

where are metric spaces, is continuous if and only if

for all convergent sequences in .

Theorem 2.2.4:

Let and be a function. Then is continuous if and only if

Proof

Exercises

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  1. Prove that if we define
    then is not continuous at . Hint: Consider the limit with respect to different lines through and use theorem 2.2.4.

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