XV.—On a Test for Continuity.

§ 1. THE usual method of proving that a function defined as the limit of a sequence of continuous functions is continuous is by proving that the convergence is uniform. This method may fail owing to the presence of points at which the convergence is non-uniform although the limiting function is continuous. In such a case it would be necessary to apply a further test, e.g. that of Arzelà (“uniform convergence by segments”). In some cases the continuity may be proved directly by means of a totally different principle, without reference to modes of convergence at all. It is, in fact, a necessary and sufficient condition for the continuity of a function that it should be possible to express it at the same time as the limit of a monotone ascending and of a monotone descending sequence of continuous functions.