Dirichlet Function

Let and be real numbers (usually taken as and ). The Dirichlet function is defined by

(1)

and is discontinuous everywhere. The Dirichlet function can be written analytically as

(2)

Because the Dirichlet function cannot be plotted without producing a solid blend of lines, a modified version, sometimes itself known as the Dirichlet function (Bruckner et al. 2008), Thomae function (Beanland et al. 2009), or small Riemann function (Ballone 2010, p. 11), can be defined as

(3)

(Dixon 1991), illustrated above. This function is continuous at irrational and discontinuous at rational (although a small interval around an irrational point contains infinitely many rational points, these rationals will have very large denominators). When viewed from a corner along the line in normal perspective, a quadrant of Euclid's orchard turns into the modified Dirichlet function (Gosper).