[Math] proving that the function is not continuous at the origin

continuitypartial derivative

Show that the following function has partial derivatives at the origin, but it is not even continuous
there:

$$f(x, y) = \begin{cases}
1 & \text{if $x = 0$ or $y = 0$} \\
0 & \text{otherwise}
\end{cases}$$

For the first part I took limits to find partial derivatives:
$$\frac{\partial f(x,y)}{\partial x} = \lim_{h\to 0} \frac{f(0,h)-f(0,0)} h = 0$$
$$\frac{\partial f(x,y)}{\partial y} = \lim_{h\to 0} \frac{f(h,0)-f(0,0)} h = 0$$ and I got stuck with the second part.

Best Answer

We can show the limit does not exist at $(0, 0)$ by going to $(0, 0)$ along two different paths. Along $y = 0$, we have $$ \lim_{x \to 0} f(x, 0) = \lim_{x \to 0} 1 = 1. $$ But going along $y = x$, we have $$ \lim_{x \to 0} f(x, x) = \lim_{x \to 0} 0 = 0. $$ So the limit $$ \lim_{(x, y) \to (0, 0)} f(x, y) $$ does not exist and so $f$ is not continuous at $(0, 0)$.