Exercise 5.2.7

Let

g a ( x ) = { x a sin ⁡ ( 1 ∕ x )  if  x ≠ 0 0  if  x = 0

Find a particular (potentially noninteger) value for a so that

(a)
g a is differentiable on R but such that g a ′ is unbounded on [ 0 , 1 ] .
(b)
g a is differentiable on R with g a ′ continuous but not differentiable at zero.
(c)
g a is differentiable on R and g a ′ is differentiable on R , but such that g a ′′ is not continuous at zero.

Answers

We need a > 0 to make g a continuous at zero, for differentiation notice

g a ′ ( 0 ) = lim ⁡ x → 0 g ( x ) − g ( 0 ) x − 0 = lim ⁡ x → 0 x a sin ⁡ ( 1 ∕ x ) x = lim ⁡ x → 0 x a − 1 sin ⁡ ( 1 ∕ x )

Thus for differentiation we need x a − 1 sin ⁡ ( 1 ∕ x ) to have a limit at zero. Keep this in mind for the problems. Also note

g a ′ ( x ) = a x a − 1 sin ⁡ ( 1 ∕ x ) + x a cos ⁡ ( 1 ∕ x ) ( − 1 ∕ x 2 ) = a x a − 1 sin ⁡ ( 1 ∕ x ) − x a − 2 cos ⁡ ( 1 ∕ x )

(a)
To get unboundedness we need the x a − 2 cos ⁡ ( 1 ∕ x ) term to become unbounded, so pick a = 1.5 to satisfy a > 1 (differentiable) and a < 2 (unbounded derivative)
(b)
Pick a = 2.5 , It’s clear that g a ′ ( x ) = 2.5 x 1.5 sin ⁡ ( 1 ∕ x ) − x 0.5 cos ⁡ ( 1 ∕ x ) is continuous at zero, but not differentiable since x 0.5 cos ⁡ ( 1 ∕ x ) isn’t differentiable at zero and 2.5 x 1.5 sin ⁡ ( 1 ∕ x ) is (if both terms were not differentiable they could cancel eachother out, constant vigilance!).
(c)
Pick a = 3.5 , for all intents and purposes g a ′ behaves like g a − 2 (because the x a − 2 cos ⁡ ( 1 ∕ x ) term acts as a bottleneck) meaning g a ″ exists, but isn’t continuous since we get another − 2 to a leading to a x − 0.5 term in g a ″ .
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2022-01-27 00:00
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