Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2013 / ia / Paper 1 / 10E / b / iii / Solution

First prove continuity at $b$. Given $\epsilon >0$, choose $v$ with $\max (c,d-\epsilon )<v<d$. Surjectivity gives $x_v\in [a,b]$ with $f(x_v)=v$. Strict increase implies $x_v<b$. For $b-(b-x_v)<x\le b$,Thus $\delta =b-x_v$ proves left continuity at $b$. At $a$, choose $c<v<\min (d,c+\epsilon )$ and use its preimage to prove right continuity by the same ordering argument.

For $a<x_0<b$, choose values $v_{-},v_{+}$ in the range such thatTheir preimages satisfy $x_{-}<x_0<x_{+}$. If $\delta =\min (x_0-x_{-},x_{+}-x_0)$ and $|x-x_0|<\delta$, strict increase traps $f(x)$ between $v_{-}$ and $v_{+}$, so $|f(x)-f(x_0)|<\epsilon$. Therefore $f$ is continuous on the entire closed interval. This is continuity of an increasing interval surjection: a jump would omit values, contradicting the stated surjectivity.