Is this epsilon-delta proof involving the floor function correct

ceiling-and-floor-functionsepsilon-delta

I'm reading the book "Calculus a Rigorous First Course" by Daniel J Velleman. Currently stuck on exercise 11 from section 2.3 which is the following.

Use the given formula for $\delta$ to prove the limit statement.

\begin{align*}
\lim_{x\rightarrow3}\lfloor x/2 \rfloor=1 \; ,\; \delta=1
\end{align*}

My attempt was the following.

Proof. Suppose $\epsilon>0$. Let $\delta = 1$. Then

\begin{align*}
| \lfloor x/2 \rfloor – 1| < 1 = \delta=\epsilon
\end{align*}

Note, $| \lfloor x/2 \rfloor – 1| < 1$ because $2<x<4$.


I find this proof somewhat incorrect because $\delta \neq \epsilon$. Or am I missing something about the epsilon-delta criterion?

Best Answer

You're right that $\delta \ne \epsilon$, so that doesn't belong in the proof. Also, you have skipped some steps in your writeup of the proof. In particular, you never said that you are assuming that $0 < |x - 3| < \delta$. Here's how I would write it:

Suppose $\epsilon > 0$. Let $\delta = 1$. Suppose $0 < |x - 3| < \delta$. Then $|x - 3| < 1$, so $2 < x < 4$. Therefore $1 < x/2 < 2$, so $\lfloor x/2 \rfloor = 1$ and $|\lfloor x/2 \rfloor - 1| = 0 < \epsilon$.

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