M361K: Introduction to Real Analysis, Fall 2012

Assignment 5 - Due Dec 4

1. Use the definition to find the derivatives of the following functions.

(a) f (x) = 1/ x, x > 0.

Solution: Given x > 0
f (x + h) f (x)
=
lim
h0
h

1
x+h

1
x

x x+h
= lim
h0 h x x + h

x x+h
x+ x+h

= lim

h0 h x x + h
x+ x+h
x (x + h)

= lim

h0 h x x + h ( x +
x + h)
1

= lim

h0
x x + h ( x + x + h)
1
= lim .
h0 2x x

(b) f (x) = 0 when x is rational and f (x) = x2 when x is irrational, at x = 0.

Solution: For x rational we have
f (x) f (0)
= 0.
x
If x is irrational then

x2
f (x) f (0)
=
= x.
x
x
But obviously limx0 x = 0. Hence
f (x) f (0)
=0
x0
x

f 0 (0) = lim

2. Suppose f : R R is differentiable at c and f (c) = 0. Prove that |f | is differentiable at c if

and only if f 0 (c) = 0.
Solution: () Suppose f (c) = f 0 (c) = 0, then by defintion
f (x) f (c)
f (x)
= lim
xc
xc x c
xc

0 = f 0 (c) = lim

So given every  > 0, there exists > 0 such that if 0 < |x c| < then |f (x)/(x c)| < .
But obviously
 


 f (x)   |f (x)| 
 


x c =  x c 
which implies that
lim

xc

|f (x)| |f (c)|
|f (x)|
= lim
xc
xc
xc

exists and is equal to zero as well.

() We prove the contrapositive. Suppose f (c) = 0 but f 0 (c) = L 6= 0. Then by definition if
we choose 0 <  < |L|/2, there exists > 0 so that if 0 < |x c| < then



 f (x)
 < ,


L

x c
or equivalently
L(x c) |x c| < f (x) < L(x c) + |x c|.
We claim that because of our choice of  < L/2, if L(x c) is positive then all the terms of
the above inequality are positive and when L(x c) is negative then all the sides are negative.
This is simply because
|L(x c)| = |L||x c| > (|L|/2)|x c| > |x c|.
So if L(x c) > 0, then all the terms of the inequality are positive and when we take the
absolute value we have
L(x c) |x c| < |f (x)| < L(x c) + |x c|,
or equivalently



 |f (x)|
<


L

xc

(1)

but when L(x c) < 0 all the terms are negative and when we take the absolute value we will
have
(L(x c) |x c|) > |f (x)| > (L(x c) + |x c|)
or equivalently
L(x c) |x c| < |f (x)| < L(x c) + |x c|,
which implies
|x c| < |f (x)| + L(x c) < |x c|

||f (x)| + L(x c)| < |x c|.

After dividing by |x c|


 |f (x)|



 x c + L < .
2

(2)

So if we choose x1 and x2 so that |x1 c| and |x2 c| are both smaller than but L(x1 c) > 0
and L(x2 c) < 0, then by (1) and (2)





 |f (x2 )|

 |f (x1 )|


<


L
<

and
+
L

 x2 c

 x1 c
Hence by the triangle inequality


 |f (x1 )| |f (x2 )|



 x1 c x2 c 2L 2



 |f (x1 )| |f (x2 )| 


 x1 c x2 c  2|L| 2 > 2.

This shows that the values of the function at x1 and x2 cannot be close to the same limit.
3. Compute the following limits:
ln cos x
with x (0, /2).
x0+
x2
Solution: We use LHospitals:

(a) lim

ln cos x
sin x/ cos x
= lim
2
x0+
x0+
x
2x
sin x
= lim
x0+ 2x cos x
cos x
= lim
x0+ 2 cos x 2x sin x
1
= .
2
lim

1
with x (0, 1).
x(ln x)2
Solution:

(b) lim

x0+

1
1/x
= lim
2
x0+ x(ln x)
x0+ (ln x)2
1/x2
= lim
x0+ 2(1/x)(ln x)
1/x
= lim
x0+ 2 ln x
1/x2
= lim
x0+ 2/x
1
= lim
x0+ 2x
= +
lim

4. Suppose f : (0, 1) R is a differentiable function and its derivative is bounded. Prove that
f is uniformly continuous on (0, 1).
Solution: Assume |f 0 (x)| M for every x (0, 1); then by the mean value theorem given
every , if we choose = /M and if |x y| < for x, y (0, 1) then
f (x) f (y) = f 0 (z)(x y)
for some x z y then
|f (x) f (y)| = |f 0 (z)||x y| < M (/M ) = .
5. Suppose the function f : [a, b] R is differentiable at every x (a, b) with x 6= c for some
c (a, b). Also assume lim f 0 (x) exists and is equal to L. Prove that f is differentiable at c
and f 0 (c) = L.

xc

f (x) f (c)
f (x) f (c)
and lim
both exist and are equal to L;
xc+
xc
xc
xc
then by the definition f is differentiable at c and f 0 (c) = L.
Solution: We prove lim

Suppose  > 0 is given. Since lim f 0 (x) = L there exists , so that if 0 < | c| < then
xc

|f 0 () L| < . If x [a, c) is so that |x c| < then by the mean value theorem

f (x) f (c)
= f 0 ()
xc
for some (x, c) and therefore 0 < c < which implies


 f (x) f (c)


 = |f 0 () L| < .

L
 xc

f (x) f (c)
f (x) f (c)
= L; arguing similarly we have lim
=
xc
xc+
xc
xc

Since  was arbitrary, this proves lim

L and we are done.