Education Technology

Exploring Discontinuities on a Function Graph

Subject Area
Math: Calculus: Derivatives
Level
9-12
TI Calculator
TI-84 series
Resource Types
Lessons

Exploring Discontinuities on a Function Graph

Activity Overview

In this activity, students explore discontinuities on function graphs using the TI-84 Evo. Through guided examples and problems, students investigate vertical asymptotes, removable discontinuities (holes), jump discontinuities, and other essential discontinuities — described both graphically and using limit notation. The TI-84 Evo's POI and Asymptote detection trace features serve as hands-on tools to visualize and classify these breaks across a variety of function types.

About the Lesson

This lesson connects informal graphical intuition to the formal limit-based definitions of continuity and discontinuity. Students analyze rational, piecewise, and trigonometric functions to identify and classify discontinuities, and determine parameter values that ensure continuity, building essential foundational skills for calculus.

Subject Area
Math: Calculus: Derivatives
Level
9-12
TI Calculator
TI-84 series
Resource Types
Lessons
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