Paper 1, Section II, E

Analysis II | Part IB, 2009

Define a function f:RRf: \mathbb{R} \rightarrow \mathbb{R} by

f(x)=n=12n2nxf(x)=\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} 2^{-n}\left\|2^{n} x\right\|

where t\|t\| is the distance from tt to the nearest integer. Prove that ff is continuous. [Results about uniform convergence may not be used unless they are clearly stated and proved.]

Suppose now that g:RRg: \mathbb{R} \rightarrow \mathbb{R} is a function which is differentiable at some point xx, and let (un)n=1,(vn)n=1\left(u_{n}\right)_{n=1}^{\infty},\left(v_{n}\right)_{n=1}^{\infty} be two sequences of real numbers with unxvnu_{n} \leqslant x \leqslant v_{n} for all nn, unvnu_{n} \neq v_{n} and un,vnxu_{n}, v_{n} \rightarrow x as nn \rightarrow \infty. Prove that

limng(vn)g(un)vnun\lim _{n \rightarrow \infty} \frac{g\left(v_{n}\right)-g\left(u_{n}\right)}{v_{n}-u_{n}}

exists.

By considering appropriate sequences of rationals with denominator 2n2^{-n}, or otherwise, show that ff is nowhere differentiable.

Typos? Please submit corrections to this page on GitHub.