So far we have not defined the "limit" of a function for a given argument. If we had done so, we could have defined the continuity of a function differently: a function is continuous at a point where its value is the same as the limit of its value for approaches either from above or from below. But it is only the exceptionally "tame" function that has a definite limit as the argument approaches a given point. The general rule is that a function oscillates, and that, given any neighbourhood of a given argument, however small, a whole stretch of values will occur for arguments within this neighbourhood. As this is the general rule, let us consider it first.
Let us consider what may happen as the argument approaches some value
from below. That is to say, we wish to consider what happens for arguments contained in the interval from
to
, where
is some number which, in important cases, will be very small.