Continuity of the Sum of a Uniformly Convergent Series of Functions
Recall from the Pointwise Convergent and Uniformly Convergent Series of Functions that we say that the series of functions $\displaystyle{\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} f_n(x)}$ is uniformly convergent to the sum function $f(x)$ if the corresponding sequence of partial sums $(s_n(x))_{n=1}^{\infty}$ uniformly converges to $f(x)$ where for each $n \in \mathbb{N}$ we define $\displaystyle{s_n(x) = \sum_{k=1}^{n} f_n(x)}$.
Now suppose that we have a sequence of functions $(f_n(x))_{n=1}^{\infty}$ with common domain $X$, each of which is continuous at the point $c \in X$. Suppose further that $\displaystyle{\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} f_n(x)}$ uniformly converges to a sum function $f(x)$. Is the sum function $f$ necessarily continuous at $c$? The answer is yes as we will prove in the following theorem.
Theorem 1: Let $(f_n(x))_{n=1}^{\infty}$ be a sequence of functions with common domain $X$ and suppose that $f_n$ is continuous at $c \in X$ for all $n \in \mathbb{N}$. If $\displaystyle{\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} f_n(x)}$ uniformly converges to the sum function $f(x)$ then $f$ is continuous at $c$. |
- Proof: Suppose that $\displaystyle{\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} f_n(x)}$ uniformly converges to the sum function $f(x)$. Let $(s_n(x))_{n=1}^{\infty}$ be the corresponding sequence of partial sums to this series of functions. Then $(s_n(x))_{n=1}^{\infty}$ converges uniformly to $f(x)$.
- Now for each $n \in \mathbb{N}$ we have that:
- So each $s_n$ is a finite sum of functions that are continuous at $c$, so $s_n$ is continuous at $c$ for each $n \in \mathbb{N}$. From the theorem presented on the Continuity of a Limit Function of a Uniformly Convergent Sequence of Functions page, this means that the limit function $f(x)$ is continuous at $c$. $\blacksquare$