$\sqrt x$ is uniformly continuous

Solution 1:

Let $\epsilon > 0.$ Pick $\delta = \epsilon^2.$ Then for $|x-y| < \delta$ we have

$$|\sqrt x - \sqrt y|^2 \leq |\sqrt x - \sqrt y||\sqrt x + \sqrt y| = |x-y| < \epsilon^2 \implies |\sqrt x - \sqrt y| < \epsilon. $$

Solution 2:

We'll prove that $f(x) = \sqrt{x}$ is uniformly continuous on $\mathbb{R}_+$. Indeed, $[0,1]$ being a compact set, $f$ is uniformly continuous on this interval. On the other hand, on $[1,\infty), f$ is Lipschitz, and hence is uniformly continuous. Hence we are now done.

Solution 3:

The explanation is from Jonathan Kane's textbook "Writing Proofs in Analysis". Which asks the reader to observe the behavior of the function $f(x,y)=\frac{\vert x-y\vert}{\sqrt{x}+\sqrt{y}}=\vert\sqrt{x}-\sqrt{y}\vert$. The natural step is to restrict the "size" of $\vert x-y\vert$ so that as $x,y\to\infty$ then so does $\sqrt{x}+\sqrt{y}$, which leads to $\frac{\vert x-y\vert}{\sqrt{x}+\sqrt{y}}\to 0$. But a seeming roadblock arises as $x,y\to 0$ since that would make the denominator approach $0$ as well. However, the problem disappears when we realize that if $\sqrt{x}+\sqrt{y}\to 0$ then $\vert \sqrt{x}-\sqrt{y}\vert\to 0$ or if $\sqrt{x}+\sqrt{y}\to \infty$ then $\frac{\vert x-y\vert}{\sqrt{x}+\sqrt{y}}=\vert\sqrt{x}-\sqrt{y}\vert\to 0$. Hence, if the given $\epsilon>0$ is such that $\sqrt{x}+\sqrt{y}<\epsilon$, then $\vert\sqrt{x}-\sqrt{y}\vert<\epsilon$ and we are done. On the other hand, if $\sqrt{x}+\sqrt{y}\geq\epsilon$, then $\frac{\vert x-y\vert}{\sqrt{x}+\sqrt{y}}<\frac{\vert x-y\vert}{\epsilon}$ and we only need to compute for $ \frac{\vert x-y\vert}{\epsilon}<\epsilon$ to get $\vert x-y\vert<\epsilon^2$.