Glossary of engineering: M–Z

Can calculus functions flip between smooth and abrupt?

Imagine you're driving and suddenly hit a roadblock; your car's motion changes abruptly.

In calculus, a function can change smoothly like a car cruising, but hit a sudden stop like a roadblock. This is called a discontinuous behavior.

Example

A car moving at 60 mph (smooth motion) suddenly stops (discontinuous behavior).

Remember this

A function in calculus can exhibit both smooth (continuous) and abrupt (discontinuous) behavior.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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