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FALSE: a monotone function has at most countably many points of non-differentiability
Statement
A monotone real function has at most countably many points where the finite derivative fails to exist.
Facts & Assumptions
Given: The statement above.
We use the Cantor function.
Refutation
Let be the Cantor function and fix in the Cantor set. As in the Cantor-function example, let be the stage- Cantor interval determined by the first ternary digits of . Then and by The Cantor set is exactly the set of with every , and this gives a bijection with and The Cantor function is well defined, satisfies whenever , is surjective onto , and is constant on every interval removed from the Cantor set. At least one of the two numerator differences and is at least . For that choice the corresponding denominator is positive and at most , so one of the two secant slopes is at least . Hence has no finite derivative at . Since the Cantor set is uncountable by The Cantor set is an uncountable subset of of Lebesgue measure zero, the nondifferentiability set of is uncountable.
Therefore a monotone function can have uncountably many nondifferentiability points, so the statement is false.
Depends on
- The Cantor set is an uncountable subset of $\mathbb{R}$ of Lebesgue measure zero
- The Cantor function on $[0,1]$, defined on the Cantor set through ternary digits and extended constantly across each removed interval
- The derivative $f'(c) = \lim_{x \to c} \frac{f(x) - f(c)}{x - c}$ of $f : A \to \mathbb{R}$ at a point $c \in A$ that is a limit point of $A$, and differentiability on a set
- The Cantor function is well defined, satisfies $c(x) \le c(y)$ whenever $x \le y$, is surjective onto $[0,1]$, and is constant on every interval removed from the Cantor set
- The Cantor set is exactly the set of $\sum_{k \ge 1} a_k 3^{-k}$ with every $a_k \in \{0,2\}$, and this gives a bijection with $\{0,1\}^{\mathbb{N}}$
Used by
Nothing in the library uses this result yet.
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Sources
- A. M. Bruckner, J. B. Bruckner, and B. S. Thomson, Real Analysis, 2nd ed. (standard reference, not scraped)