Let f : R → R be a function such that for all x , y ∈ R
∣ ∣ f ( x ) − f ( y ) ∣ ∣ ≤ 6 ∣ x − y ∣ 2
If f ( 3 ) = 6 then find f ( 6 ) .
Notation: ∣ ⋅ ∣ denotes the absolute value function .
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I really enjoyed that one. I wonder what other ways this could be solved.
Technically you do have to know that f ( x ) is continuous. To show that is easy though. One way is to let δ = ϵ / 6 in the typical ( ϵ , δ ) definition of a limit.
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It is pretty obvious that it is continuous though...
Rewrite the condition as ∣ ∣ ∣ ∣ x − y f ( x ) − f ( y ) ∣ ∣ ∣ ∣ ≤ 6 ∣ x − y ∣ We will prove that such a function is complex differentiable:
0 ≤ y → x lim ∣ ∣ ∣ ∣ x − y f ( x ) − f ( y ) ∣ ∣ ∣ ∣ ≤ y → x lim 6 ∣ x − y ∣ = 0 ⟹ y → x lim ∣ ∣ ∣ ∣ x − y f ( x ) − f ( y ) ∣ ∣ ∣ ∣ = 0 by the squeeze theorem. This in turn implies that lim y → x x − y f ( x ) − f ( y ) = 0 by the properties of the absolute value. Thus we have found that f ′ ( x ) exists for all x ∈ C and f ′ ( x ) = 0 which implies f is a constant function. And we are already told that f ( x ) = 6 .
Furthermore, as we have found that not only is f differentiable but complex differentiable, this problem could be extended to C in the sense that this is the only solution, even if we are given a function f : C → C .
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We have ∣ f ( x ) − f ( y ) ∣ ≤ 6 ∣ x − y ∣ 2 .
We can write it as
∣ ∣ ∣ x − y f ( x ) − f ( y ) ∣ ∣ ∣ ≤ 6 ∣ x − y ∣
Now let y tends to x where x is any real number .
Therefore,
y → x lim ∣ ∣ ∣ ∣ x − y f ( x ) − f ( y ) ∣ ∣ ∣ ∣ ≤ y → x lim ∣ x − y ∣
Therefore, ∣ ∣ ∣ f ′ ( x ) ∣ ∣ ∣ ≤ 0 by using LMVT(Lagrange Mean Value Theorem) .
Therefore f ′ ( x ) = 0
This means function f is a constant function .
Hence , f ( 6 ) = 6