Question

If you had a computer that could track the number of cereal boxes on the shelf of a market continuously over a 1-week period would you expect the graph of the number of boxes on the shelf versus time to be a continuous (unbroken) curve? Explain your reasoning.

I think the answer could be no, if the cereal product were purchased until the shelf were empty. Then there would be a break in the graph. However, it could be yes if the product were never purchased so much as to empty the shelf.

Am I on the right track?

Answer 1

The number of boxes goes throguh a number of discontinuous "steps" whenever a box is added or bought. That makes the function discontinuous.