Does there exist a twice differentiable function f ( x ) such that
f ( x ) f ′ ′ ( x ) < 0
for all real x ?
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Thank you for your solution, Noam! You are certainly on the right track when you work with convexity (and/or concavity). I presume that you are giving an indirect proof, assuming that such a function f ( x ) does exist. Then you can use the fact that f ( x ) has no zeroes and neither does f ′ ′ ( x ) , which makes things a lot easier: Both f ( x ) and f ′ ′ ( x ) will have the same sign throughout, and those signs will be opposites. Replacing f ( x ) by − f ( x ) if necessary, you can even assume that f ( x ) > 0 and f ′ ′ ( x ) < 0 for all x . Now f ( x ) will be (strictly) concave, and a strictly concave function cannot be positive throughout.
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Is f''(x) necessarily continuous? If not, we can not assume that it has the same sign, no?
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The derivative of a differentiable function always satisfies the intermediate value theorem, even if it fails to be continuous.
Take f ( x ) = cos x we get f ′ ′ ( x ) f ( x ) = − ( cos x ) 2 < 0
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It's not strictly lower, since both f ( x ) and f ‘ ‘ ( x ) has zeros.
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Oh! got it thanks
What do you mean by that it's not strictly lower?
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@Sanchit Ahuja – As cos x has a root on x = 2 π so at x = 2 π f ( x ) × f ′ ′ ( x ) = 0
Which clearly violates above condition.
Let, f ( x ) = a x 2 + b x + c . Then we assume that for every x , f ( x ) > 0 and f ′ ′ ( x ) < 0 .
for f ( x ) > 0 ,
x > 2 a √ ( b 2 − 4 a c ) − b and x < 2 a b − √ ( b 2 − 4 a c )
As, f ′ ′ ( x ) < 0 , so a < 0 . So for one fixed value of a , f ′ ′ ( x ) is either > 0 or < 0 , but for f ( x ) ,there is always a range of x in which it is increasing or decreaing. So f ( x ) ∗ f ′ ′ ( x ) < 0 is not possible for every x
This is a partial solution, as it applies to quadratic polynomials only.
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Sir, one question is there. twice differentiable function is the one which becomes constant after differentiating it twice or just it can be differentiated twice.
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It can be differentiated twice
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@Otto Bretscher – Sir, I think there doesn't exist any function which satisfy the given condition.
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I think that there is some gaps in my proof, but: Divide the real line into segements of the form ( a , b ) when in the segments, f ′ ′ ( x ) does not change sign, and such that in a segment ( b , b + ϵ ) f ′ ′ ( x ) change sign, and the same about a neighborhood of ( a − ϵ , a ) . Now, without loss of generality, assume that in the segment σ = ( a , b ) we have that for each x ∈ σ , f ′ ′ ( x ) > 0 . To satisfy the inequality, we must have f ( x ) < 0 if x ∈ σ . But in σ , f ( x ) is convex and thus f ( a ) < 0 , f ( b ) < 0 . But in the segment ( b , ∞ ) we a segment of the form of σ , call it σ 1 , in which f ′ ′ ( x ) < 0 and with its leftmost point as b ( it is of the form ( b , a 1 ) with a 1 not nesecerally finite). Thus in a right neighborhood B of b which is contained in σ 1 we must have that f ( x ) > 0 , x ∈ B , which contradicts the fact that f ( x ) is contniuous.