MH9100: Advanced Investigations In Calculus I. Solutions to Homework Assignment #2.

Problem 1: Find the supremum and inmum (if they exist) of the following sets. Also decide which sets have greatest and least elements (i. e. decide when the supremum and inmum happens to belong to the set). 1 : n Z and n = 0 . n (b) {x : 0 x 2 and x is rational}. (a) (c) 1 + (1)n : n N . n

Answer. (a) 1 and 1 are an upper and a lower bound for the given set, 1 respectively. Indeed, for each n Z, we have n 1; if n < 0 this is trivial, as the left-hand side is negative. If n > 0, then n 1, hence 1 1 1. Using a similar argument, we can prove that n 1 for all n n Z. But these bounds, actually belong to the set, because they can 1 1 be written as 1 and 1 . Therefore, 1 is the supremum of the given set (and is also a maximum), and 1 is the inmum (and is also a minimum). (b) 0 is by denition a lower bound of the given set, and it belongs to it, because it is rational. Therefore, 0 is the inmum, and also a minimum of the given set. The supremum is 2; rst, it is an upper bound, by denition. Second, for every > 0, there is a rational number q with 2 < q 2, or equivalently, there is some q in the given set with 2<q 2. This shows that 2 is the supremum of the set; it is not a maximum, because it is irrational, and it does not belong to the given set. (c) For every n, we have 1/n + (1)n > (1)n 1, so 1 is a lower bound for the given set. We will show that it is the inmum; let > 0 1 be arbitrary. There is an odd number n, such that n < , therefore, 1

1 1 1 < n + (1)n = n 1 < 1 + . This shows that 1 is the inmum of this set, but it is not a minimum because it does not belong to the set, as we have seen 1/n + (1)n > 1 for all n.

Next, we observe that all terms corresponding to n odd satisfy 1 (1)n = n 1 1 1 = 0. For even n, we have 1 1 + (1)n = + 1 n n 1 3 +1= , 2 2

1 n

since n 2 for all even natural n. So, 3/2 is an upper bound; it also belongs to the given set, as it is equal to the term corresponding to n = 2. Therefore, it is both a supremum and a maximum of the given set.

Problem 2: How many continuous functions are there which satisfy (f (x))2 = x2 for all real x? Answer. We will show that the only continuous functions satisfying (f (x))2 = x2 for all real x are precisely four; f (x) = x, f (x) = x, f (x) = |x|, f (x) = |x|. It is obvious that these functions are continuous and satisfy the given functional equation. First of all, the hypothesis yields f (0) = 0. For each x, we have f (x) = x. What we will show here, is that this sign remains constant when you consider only positive x, and similarly when you consider only negative x; these two signs could be dierent in these two cases, and they indeed are when, for example, f (x) = |x|. In this case, we have f (x) = x for all positive x, and f (x) = x for all negative x. We will prove it by contradiction; suppose that the sign is not constant for positive x, which means that there are positive x, y such that f (x) = x > 0 and f (y ) = y < 0. Since f is continuous, by the Intermediate Value Theorem, there is some x0 between x and y , such that f (x0 ) = 0, 2 or x2 0 = (f (x0 )) = 0, which implies that x0 = 0. But x and y are both positive, hence 0 cannot be between them, a contradiction. Therefore, for all positive x, we have either f (x) = x or f (x) = x. The same conclusion can be reached for negative x, using the same argument. Now, we can see that we can only obtain the four functions mentioned in the beginning; if 2

the signs are the same for both positive and negative x, then we have either f (x) = x for all x or f (x) = x for all x. If the signs are dierent, then we take f (x) = |x| for all x or f (x) = |x| for all x.

Problem 3: Prove that there is some number x such that (a) x179 + 163 = 119. 1 + + sin2 x x2

(b) sin x = x 1. Proof. (a) Consider the function g (x) = x179 + 163 119. 1 + + sin2 x x2

This function is continuous everywhere, so it suces to nd two values of g with dierent signs. We try the most easily computable; we have g (0) = 44 > 0, and g (1) = 1 + 163 163 73 2 119 < 1 + 2 119 = 2 < 0. 2 + sin 1

By the Intermediate Value Theorem, there is some x in (0, 1), such that g (x) = 0. (b) Now, we consider the function g (x) = sin x x + 1, which is also continuous everywhere. We have g (0) = 1 > 0, and g ( ) = sin + 1 = 1 < 0. Therefore, by the Intermediate Value Theorem, there is some x in (0, ), such that g (x) = 0, as desired.

Problem 4: Suppose that f and g are continuous on [a, b] and that f (a) < g (a), but f (b) > g (b). Prove that f (x) = g (x) for some x in [a, b]. (If your proof isnt very short, its not the right one.)

Proof. Consider the function h(x) = f (x) g (x) on [a, b]. This function is continuous on [a, b], as a dierence of continuous functions. Furthermore, we have h(a) = f (a) g (a) < 0 and h(b) = f (b) g (b) > 0. Therefore, by the Intermediate Value Theorem, there is some x in (a, b), such that h(x) = 0, or equivalently, f (x) = g (x).

( ) Problem 5: (a) Let f (x) = sin 1/x for x = 0 and let f (0) = 0. Is f continuous on [1, 1]? Show that f satises the conclusion of the Intermediate Value Theorem on [1, 1]; in other words, if f takes on two values on [1, 1], it also takes on every value in between. (b) Suppose that f , dened on [a, b], satises the conclusion of the Intermediate Value Theorem on any subinterval [c, d] of [a, b], and that f takes on each value only once. Prove that f is continuous. (c) Generalize to the case where f takes on each value only nitely many times.

Proof. (a) f is continuous everywhere except for x = 0; we know that the limit limx0 sin 1/x does not exist. On the other hand, sin 1/x is the compositon of two continuous functions with domain R \{0}, therefore f is continuous anywhere else but zero. f satises the conclusions of the Intermediate Value Theorem, indeed. For all x in [1, 1] we have 1 sin 1/x 1. We focus on the subinterval [2/, 2/(3 )] (0, 1] [1, 1]. Since 0 is not an element of this interval, f is continuous on [2/, 2/(3 )]. Furthermore, 2 f = sin = 1 2 and f 2 3 = sin 3 = 1, 2

hence by the Intermediate Value Theorem applied on this interval, f assumes all values between 1 and 1. So, if we take x and y in [1, 1], 4

we have 1 f (x), f (y ) f (x) and f (y ).

1, and thus f assumes all values between

(b) Without loss of generality, we assume that f (a) < f (b). We will show that f is increasing; consider x and y such that a x y b. If f (x) < f (a) < f (b), then by hypothesis applied on the interval [x, b], there is some x0 in (x, b), such that f (x0 ) = f (a), contradicting the assumption that f assumes each value only once. Similarly, we can prove that we cannot have f (x) > f (b), using the hypothesis on the interval [a, x], this time. Therefore, f (a) f (x) f (b); restricting our attention to [x, b] and using the above argument, we also get f (a) f (x) f (y ) f (b), thus f is increasing. Now, the proof proceeds exactly as in Problem 8. (c) Let y in [a, b] be arbitrary; we want to show that lim f (x) = f (y ).
x

For given > 0, f takes the values f (y ) + or f (y ) nitely many times, so the set B = {x [a, b]|f (x) = f (y ) or f (x) = f (y ) + } is nite. Obviously, y does not belong to B , so the minimum possible distance |y x|, where x B , is positive, and is denoted by . Now, consider x such that 0 < |y x| < ; by denition of we get that x does not belong to B . Assume that |f (y ) f (x)| , say for example f (x) > f (y ) + (the case f (x) < f (y ) is treated similarly). By hypothesis applied on the interval [x, y ] (or [y, x], if x > y ), there must be some x0 in (x, y ) such that f (x0 ) = f (y ) + , or x0 B . But |y x0 | < |y x| < , hence x0 cannot belong to B , a contradiction. In conclusion, we have proved the following: for every > 0, there is > 0 such that if 0 < |x y | < then |f (y ) f (x)| < . Since y was chosen arbitrarily, we deduce that f is continuous.

Remark. B could be the empty set; in this case, we could pick any positive , and proceed exactly as before.

( ) Problem 6: If f is a continuous function on [0, 1], let f be the maximum value of |f | on [0, 1]. (a) Prove that for any number c we have cf = |c| f . (b) Prove that f + g f + g . (c) Prove that h f f + g . Give an example where f + g = hg + gf .

Proof. First of all, we note that since f is continuous, then |f | is also continuous, therefore f is well dened. (a) Let y in [0, 1] be such that |f (y )| |f (x)| for all x in [0, 1], that is, f = |f (y )|. Then, for all x in [0, 1] we have |cf (x)| = |c| |f (x)| |c| |f (y )| = |c| f ,

and as we see, equality os obtained when x = y . This shows that the maximum value of |cf (x)| is precisely |cf (y )|, which yields cf = |c| f . (b) Let y , z be such that f = |f (y )| and g = |g (z )|. Then, for all x in [0, 1], we have: |f (x) + g (x)| |f (x)| + |g (x)| |f (y )| + |g (z )| = f + g ,

therefore the maximum value of the right-hand side must also satisfy the same inequality, thus, f + g f + g . Equality is not always obtained, as we can see from teh following example: dene f (x) = x and g (x) = 1 x for all x in [0, 1]. Then f = g = 1, but f + g = 1<2= f + g . (c) This follows easily from part (b): h f = (h g ) + (g f ) hg + gf .

( ) Problem 7: Let f be any polynomial function. Prove that there is some number y such that |f (y )| |f (x)| for all real x. Proof. We distinguish two cases; rst, let the degree of f (x), say n, be odd (so that f (x) = an xn + . . . + a1 x + a0 , where an = 0). Then, we know that f (x) has at least one real root, say y . The conclusion easily follows, since |f (y )| = 0 |f (x)|, for all real x. Next, we suppose that the degree of f (x) is even. Without loss of generality, we may further assume that an > 0 (otherwise, work with f (x) and observe that |f (x)| = |f (x)|). This means that f (x) has an absolute minimum, say f (y ), that is, f (y ) f (x) for all real x. If f (y ) 0, then f (x) 0 for all real x, and f (x) = |f (x)|, for all x, thus |f (y )| |f (x)| for all x. If f (y ) < 0, then f has at least one real root. Indeed, since limx f (x) = , this shows that f (x) > 0 for all x > M , for some M > 0. Since f is continuous, by the Intermediate Value Theorem there is some x0 between x and y , such that f (x0 ) = 0, so we have |f (x0 )| = 0 |f (x)|, for all real x.

( ) Problem 8: Suppose that f is a function such that f (a)

xa xa+

f (b) whenever a < b.

(a) Prove that lim f (x) and lim f (x) both exist. (b) Prove that if f satises the conclusions of the Intermediate Value Theorem, then f is continuous Proof. (a) Consider the sets A = {f (x)|x < a} and A+ = {f (x)|x > a}. By denition, f (a) is an upper bound of A and a lower bound of A+ . This means that k = sup A and l = inf A+ are well-dened. We will show that limxa f (x) = k and limxa+ f (x) = l. Let > 0 be arbitrary. Then, there is some element of A , say f (b), where b < a, such that k < f (b) k . Now, let = a b > 0. For all x satisfying b = a < x < a, we have k < f (b) 7 f (x) k.

This proves that limxa f (x) = k . The proof that limxa+ f (x) = l is similar and is omitted. (b) First, we will see what happens if f is discontinuous at x = a. Since both side limits exist, they must be unequal, that is k = l, using the above notation. Furthermore, since we have k f (a) l, we should also have k < l. Now, suppose that f satises the conclusions of the Intermediate Value Theorem, and that is discontinuous at x = a. For any x < a we have f (x) k and for any y > a we have f (y ) l, so f assumes all values between k and l. But the only value that f assumes between them is f (a), and since k < l, we have established a contradiction. Therefore, f is continuous everywhere.