Tuesday 18 June 2019

real analysis - Are there any functions that are (always) continuous yet not differentiable? Or vice-versa?



It seems like functions that are continuous always seem to be differentiable, to me. I can't imagine one that is not. Are there any examples of functions that are continuous, yet not differentiable?



The other way around seems a bit simpler -- a differentiable function is obviously always going to be continuous. But are there any that do not satisfy this?


Answer



It's easy to find a function which is continuous but not differentiable at a single point, e.g. f(x) = |x| is continuous but not differentiable at 0.



Moreover, there are functions which are continuous but nowhere differentiable, such as the Weierstrass function.




On the other hand, continuity follows from differentiability, so there are no differentiable functions which aren't also continuous. If a function is differentiable at $x$, then the limit $(f(x+h)-f(x))/h$ must exist (and be finite) as $h$ tends to 0, which means $f(x+h)$ must tend to $f(x)$ as $h$ tends to 0, which means $f$ is continuous at $x$.


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