  A rather non-standard quantum representation of the canonical commutation
relations of quantum mechanics systems, known as the polymer representation has
gained some attention in recent years, due to its possible relation with Planck
scale physics. In particular, this approach has been followed in a symmetric
sector of loop quantum gravity known as loop quantum cosmology. Here we explore
different aspects of the relation between the ordinary Schroedinger theory and
the polymer description. The paper has two parts. In the first one, we derive
the polymer quantum mechanics starting from the ordinary Schroedinger theory
and show that the polymer description arises as an appropriate limit. In the
second part we consider the continuum limit of this theory, namely, the reverse
process in which one starts from the discrete theory and tries to recover back
the ordinary Schroedinger quantum mechanics. We consider several examples of
interest, including the harmonic oscillator, the free particle and a simple
cosmological model.
