Real Analysis

Math 125A, Fall 2012

Sample Final Questions
1. Define f : R → R by
x3
f (x) = .
1 + x2
Show that f is continuous on R. Is f uniformly continuous on R?
Solution.
• To simplify the inequalities a bit, we write
x3 x
2
=x− .
1+x 1 + x2
For x, y ∈ R, we have
 
 x y 
|f (x) − f (y)| = x − y −
 +
1 + x2 1 + y 2 
 
 x y 
≤ |x − y| +  2
− 2
.
1+x 1+y 

• Using the inequality 2|xy| ≤ x2 + y 2, we get

y   x − y + xy 2 − x2 y 
   
 x
 1 + x2 − 1 + y 2  =  (1 + x2 )(1 + y 2) 

 
1 + |xy|
≤ |x − y|
(1 + x2 )(1 + y 2 )
1 1 + x2 + 1 + y 2
 
≤ |x − y|
2 (1 + x2 )(1 + y 2 )
 
1 1 1
≤ + |x − y|
2 1 + y 2 1 + x2
≤ |x − y|

• It follows that
|f (x) − f (y)| ≤ 2|x − y| for all x, y ∈ R.
Therefore f is Lipschitz continuous on R, which implies that it is uni-
formly continuous (take δ = ǫ/2).

1
2. Does there exist a differentiable function f : R → R such that f ′ (0) = 0
but f ′ (x) ≥ 1 for all x 6= 0?

Solution.

• No such function exists.

• We have  
′ f (x) − f (0)
f (0) = lim .
x→0 x
The mean value theorem implies that for for every x 6= 0, there is some
ξ strictly between 0 and x (so ξ 6= 0) such that

f (x) − f (0)
= f ′ (ξ) ≥ 1.
x

• Since limits preserve inequalities, it follows that

 
f (x) − f (0)
lim ≥ 1,
x→0 x

so we cannot have f ′ (0) = 0.

2
3. (a) Write
√ out the Taylor polynomial P2 (x) of order two at x = 0 for the
function 1 + x. and give an expression for the remainder R2 (x) in Taylor’s
formula √
1 + x = P2 (x) + R2 (x) − 1 < x < ∞.
(b) Show that the limit
 √ 
1 + x/2 − 1+x
lim
x→0 x2
exists and find its value.

Solution.
• (a) The function and its derivatives are given by
√
f (x) = 1 + x, f (0) = 1,
1 1
f ′ (x) = (1 + x)−1/2 , f ′ (0) = ,
2 2
′′ 1 −3/2 ′′ 1
f (x) = − (1 + x) , f (0) = − ,
4 4
′′′ 3 −5/2
f (x) = (1 + x) .
8
• The Taylor polynomial and remainder are
2
X 1 (k) 1 ′′′
P2 (x) = f (0)xk , R2 (x) = f (ξ)x3 ,
k=0
k! 3!

where ξ is between 0 and x, which gives

√ 1 1 1
1 + x = 1 + x − x2 + (1 + ξ)−5/2 x3
2 8 16
(b) For this part, we only need the Taylor polynomial of order one,
√ 1 1
1 + x = 1 + x − (1 + ξ)−3/2 x2
2 8
where ξ is between 0 and x. Since ξ → 0 as x → 0, it follows that
 √ 
1 + x/2 − 1 + x 1 1
lim 2
= lim(1 + ξ)−3/2 = .
x→0 x 8 ξ→0 8

3
4. (a) Suppose fn : A → R is uniformly continuous on A for every n ∈ N
and fn → f uniformly on A. Prove that f is uniformly continuous on A.
(b) Does the result in (a) remain true if fn → f pointwise instead of uni-
formly?

Solution.

• (a) Let ǫ > 0. Since fn → f converges uniformly on A there exists

N ∈ N such that
ǫ
|fn (x) − f (x)| < for all x ∈ A and n > N .
3
Choose some n > N. Since fn is uniformly continuous, there exists
δ > 0 such that
ǫ
|fn (x) − fn (y)| < for all x, y ∈ A with |x − y| < δ.
3
Then, for all x, y ∈ A with |x − y| < δ, we have

|f (x) − f (y)| ≤ |f (x) − fn (x)| + |fn (x) − fn (y)| + |fn (y) − f (x)| < ǫ,

which implies that f is uniformly continuous on A.

• (b) The result does not remain true if fn → f pointwise. For example,
consider fn : [0, 1] → R defined by fn (x) = xn . Then fn is uniformly
continuous on [0, 1] because it is a continuous function on a compact
interval, but fn → f pointwise where
(
0 if 0 ≤ x < 1,
f (x) =
1 if x = 1.

The limit f is not even continuous on [0, 1].

4
5. Define fn : [0, ∞) → R by

sin(nx)
fn (x) = .
1 + nx
(a) Show that fn converges pointwise on [0, ∞) and find the pointwise limit
f.
(b) Show that fn → f uniformly on [a, ∞) for every a > 0.
(c) Show that fn does not converge uniformly to f on [0, ∞).

Solution.

• (a) If x > 0, then

1
|fn (x)| ≤ →0 as n → ∞
1 + nx
so fn (x) → 0. Also, fn (0) = 0 for every n, so fn (0) → 0. Thus, fn → 0
pointwise on [0, ∞).

• (b) We have
1 1
|fn (x)| ≤ < for all a ≤ x < ∞,
1 + na na
so given ǫ > 0 take N = 1/a and then |fn (x)| < ǫ for all n > N,
meaning that fn → 0 uniformly on [a, ∞).

• (c) If (fn ) converges uniformly on [0, ∞), then it must converge to the
pointwise-limit 0. Let xn = π/(2n). Then
1
fn (xn ) = .
1 + π/2

Therefore, if 0 < ǫ0 ≤ 1/(1 + π/2), there exists x ∈ [0, ∞) such that

fn (x) ≥ ǫ0 ,

which means that fn does not converge uniformly to 0 on [0, ∞).

5
 0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
y

−0.1

−0.2

−0.3

−0.4

−0.5
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
x

Figure 1: Plot of the function fn (x) = sin(nx)/(1 + nx) on [0, 1] for n = 20

(green), n = 100 (red), and n = 500 (blue).

Remark. The non-uniform convergence of the sequence near x = 0 is illus-

trated in the figure.
We can also write the proof in terms of the sup-norm. Let

kf ka = sup |f (x)|
x∈[a,∞)

denote the sup-norm of f on [a, ∞). If a > 0, then

1
kfn ka ≤ →0 as n → ∞,
na
so fn → 0 uniformly on [a, ∞). If a = 0, then
1
kfn k0 ≥ for every n ∈ N,
1 + π/2

so (fn ) does not converge uniformly to 0 on [0, ∞).

6
6. Suppose that
∞ ∞
X sin nx X cos nx
f (x) = , g(x) = .
n=1
n3 n=1
n2

(a) Prove that f, g : R → R are continuous.

(b) Prove that f : R → R is differentiable and f ′ = g.

Solution.

• (a) Since
  ∞
 sin nx  1 X 1
 n3  ≤ n3 , <∞
 
n3
n=1
 cos nx  ∞
1 X 1
 2  ≤ 2, < ∞,
 
n n n=1
n2

the Weierstrass M-test implies that both series converge uniformly (and
absolutely) on R.

• Each term in the series is continuous, and the uniform limit of contin-
uous functions is continuous, so f , g are continuous on R.

• (b) The series for g is the term-by-term derivative of the series for f .
Since the series for g converges uniformly, the theorem for the differen-
tiation of sequences implies that f is differentiable and f ′ = g.

7
7. Let P = {2, 3, 5, 7, 11, . . . } be the set of prime numbers.
(a) Find the radius of convergence R of the power series
X
f (x) = xp = x2 + x3 + x5 + x7 + x11 + . . .
p∈P

(b) Show that

x2
0 ≤ f (x) ≤ for all 0 ≤ x < 1.
1−x

Solution.

• (a) We write the series as

∞
X
f (x) = an xn
n=2

where (
1 if n is prime,
an =
0 if n isn’t prime.

• Then
|an xn | ≤ |x|n for every n = 2, 3, 4, . . . .
Therefore, if |x| < 1 the P
series converges by comparison with the con-
vergent geometric series |x|n . Furthermore, if |x| > 1, the terms in
the series do not approach 0. So the radius of convergence of the series
is R = 1.

• (b) As in (a), and using the sum of the geometric series, we have for
0 ≤ x < 1 that
∞ ∞
X
p
X
n 2
X x2
0≤ x ≤ x =x xn = ,
p∈P n=2 n=0
1−x

which proves the result.

8
8. Let (X, d) be a metric space.
(a) Define the open ball Br (x) of radius r > 0 and center x ∈ X.
(b) Define an open set A ⊂ X.
(c) Show that the open ball Br (x) ⊂ X is an open set.

Solution.

• (a) The open ball is defined by

Br (x) = {y ∈ X : d(x, y) < r} .

• (b) A set A ⊂ X is open if for every x ∈ A there exists r > 0 such that
Br (x) ⊂ A.

• (c) Suppose that y ∈ Br (x). We have to show that Br (x) contains an

open ball Bs (y) for some s > 0. Choose

s = r − d(x, y) > 0.

(Draw a picture!) If z ∈ Bs (y), then by the triangle inequality

d(x, z) ≤ d(x, y) + d(y, z) < d(x, y) + s = r,

meaning that z ∈ Br (x). Thus, Bs (y) ⊂ Br (x), which proves the result.