[Math] The set of all points of discontinuity of the function $f(x)=\lim_{n\to\infty}\sin^{2n}(\pi x/2)$

calculuscontinuitylimitstrigonometry

Find the set of all points of discontinuity of the function
$$(\mathbb{R}\to\mathbb{R}) : f(x)=\lim_{n\to\infty}\sin^{2n}\left(\frac{\pi x}{2}\right)$$

I stumbled across this problem while solving questions from the topic 'Continuity and Differentiability'.

I am not able to understand the general approach towards these type of problems where the discontinuous points of a limiting functions are asked. My attempt was to find out the limiting value and then analyze the result but that didn't get me anywhere. Any help towards solving these type of problems would be appreciated.

Best Answer

Note that your limit is $0$ whenever $$ \left |\sin\left(\frac{\pi x}{2}\right)\right|<1 $$ and $1$ if $\sin\left(\frac{\pi x}{2}\right)=\pm 1$.

So you have discontinuities whenever $$ \sin\left(\frac{\pi x}{2}\right)=\pm 1 $$ well this occurs whenever $$ \frac{\pi x}{2}=\pi k $$ for any integer $k$. Or when $$ x=2k $$ an even integer. These are the points of discontinuity, since your function is $$ f(x)=\begin{cases}1&x=2k,\;k\in \mathbb{Z}\\ 0&\text{otherwise}\end{cases} $$