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A characterization of functions in the first Baire class in terms of their sets of discontinuity is given. More precisely, a function $f:ℝ\to ℝ$ is of the first Baire class if and only if for each $ϵ>0$ there is a sequence of closed sets ${\left\{C_n\right\}}_{n=1}^{\infty }$ such that $D_f={\bigcup }_{n=1}^{\infty }{C}_n$ and ${\omega }_f\left(C_n\right)<ϵ$ for each $n$ where $${\omega }_f\left(C_n\right)=sup\left\{\right|f\left(x\right)-f\left(y\right)|:x,y\in C_n\}$$ and $D_f$ denotes the set of points of discontinuity of $f$. The proof of the main theorem is based on a recent $ϵ$-$\delta$ characterization of Baire class one functions as well as on a well-known theorem due to Lebesgue. Some direct applications of...