Differentiable Functions

A differentiable function is a function that can be approximated locally by a linear

function.

The derivative
Definition Suppose that f : (a, b) → R and a < c < b. Then f is differentiable
at c with derivative f 0 (c) if
 
f (c + h) − f (c)
lim = f 0 (c).
h→0 h
The domain of f 0 is the set of points c ∈ (a, b) for which this limit exists. If the
limit exists for every c ∈ (a, b) then we say that f is differentiable on (a, b).

Graphically, this definition says that the derivative of f at c is the slope of the
tangent line to y = f (x) at c, which is the limit as h → 0 of the slopes of the lines
through (c, f (c)) and (c + h, f (c + h)).
We can also write  
0 f (x) − f (c)
f (c) = lim ,
x→c x−c
since if x = c + h, the conditions 0 < |x − c| < δ and 0 < |h| < δ in the definitions
of the limits are equivalent. The ratio
f (x) − f (c)
x−c
is undefined (0/0) at x = c, but it doesn’t have to be defined in order for the limit
as x → c to exist.
Like continuity, differentiability is a local property. That is, the differentiability
of a function f at c and the value of the derivative, if it exists, depend only the
values of f in a arbitrarily small neighborhood of c. In particular if f : A → R
where A ⊂ R, then we can define the differentiability of f at any interior point
c ∈ A since there is an open interval (a, b) ⊂ A with c ∈ (a, b).

Examples of derivatives. Let us give a number of examples that illus-

trate differentiable and non-differentiable functions.

Example The function f : R → R defined by f (x) = x2 is differentiable on

R with derivative f 0 (x) = 2x since

(c + h)2 − c2
 
h(2c + h)
lim = lim = lim (2c + h) = 2c.
h→0 h h→0 h h→0

Note that in computing the derivative, we first cancel by h, which is valid since
h 6= 0 in the definition of the limit, and then set h = 0 to evaluate the limit. This
procedure would be inconsistent if we didn’t use limits.

Example The function f : R → R defined by

(
x2 if x > 0,
f (x) =
0 if x ≤ 0.

is differentiable on R with derivative

(
2x if x > 0,
f 0 (x) =
0 if x ≤ 0.

For x > 0, the derivative is f 0 (x) = 2x as above, and for x < 0, we have f 0 (x) = 0.
For 0, we consider the limit
 
f (h) − f (0) f (h)
lim = lim .
h→0 h h→0 h

The right limit is

f (h)
lim = lim h = 0,
h→0+ h h→0

and the left limit is

f (h)
lim = 0.
h→0− h
Since the left and right limits exist and are equal, the limit also exists, and f is
differentiable at 0 with f 0 (0) = 0.

Next, we consider some examples of non-differentiability at discontinuities, cor-

ners, and cusps.

Example The function f : R → R defined by

(
1/x if x 6= 0,
f (x) =
0 if x = 0,
is differentiable at x 6= 0 with derivative f 0 (x) = −1/x2 since
   
f (c + h) − f (c) 1/(c + h) − 1/c
lim = lim
h→0 h h→0 h
 
c − (c + h)
= lim
h→0 hc(c + h)
1
= − lim
h→0 c(c + h)
1
= − 2.
c
However, f is not differentiable at 0 since the limit
   
f (h) − f (0) 1/h − 0 1
lim = lim = lim 2
h→0 h h→0 h h→0 h

does not exist.

Example . The sign function f (x) = sgn x, defined in Example 6.8, is differ-
entiable at x 6= 0 with f 0 (x) = 0, since in that case f (x + h) − f (x) = 0 for all
sufficiently small h. The sign function is not differentiable at 0 since
 
sgn h − sgn 0 sgn h
lim = lim
h→0 h h→0 h
and (
sgn h 1/h if h > 0
=
h −1/h if h < 0
is unbounded in every neighborhood of 0, so its limit does not exist.
Example The absolute value function f (x) = |x| is differentiable at x 6= 0
with derivative f 0 (x) = sgn x. It is not differentiable at 0, however, since
f (h) − f (0) |h|
lim = lim = lim sgn h
h→0 h h→0 h h→0

does not exist. (The right limit is 1 and the left limit is −1.)
Example . The function f : R → R defined by f (x) = |x|1/2 is differentiable
at x 6= 0 with
sgn x
f 0 (x) = .
2|x|1/2
If c > 0, then using the difference of two square to rationalize the numerator, we
get
(c + h)1/2 − c1/2
 
f (c + h) − f (c)
lim = lim
h→0 h h→0 h
(c + h) − c
= lim  
h→0 h (c + h)1/2 + c1/2

1
= lim 1/2
h→0 (c + h) + c1/2
1
= 1/2 .
2c
If c < 0, we get the analogous result with a negative sign. However, f is not
differentiable at 0, since
f (h) − f (0) 1
lim = lim+ 1/2
h→0+ h h→0 h
does not exist.
Example . The function f : R → R defined by f (x) = x1/3 is differentiable at
x 6= 0 with
1
f 0 (x) = .
3x2/3
To prove this result, we use the identity for the difference of cubes,
a3 − b3 = (a − b)(a2 + ab + b2 ),
and get for c 6= 0 that
(c + h)1/3 − c1/3
 
f (c + h) − f (c)
lim = lim
h→0 h h→0 h
(c + h) − c
= lim  2/3

h→0 h (c + h) + (c + h)1/3 c1/3 + c2/3
1
= lim 2/3
h→0 (c + h) + (c + h)1/3 c1/3 + c2/3
1
= 2/3 .
3c
However, f is not differentiable at 0, since
f (h) − f (0) 1
lim = lim 2/3
h→0 h h→0 h
does not exist.

Finally, we consider some examples of highly oscillatory functions.

Example . Define f : R → R by
(
x sin(1/x) if x 6= 0,
f (x) =
0 if x = 0.
It follows from the product and chain rules proved below that f is differentiable at
x 6= 0 with derivative
1 1 1
f 0 (x) = sin − cos .
x x x
However, f is not differentiable at 0, since
f (h) − f (0) 1
lim = lim sin ,
h→0 h h→0 h
which does not exist.

Example . Define f : R → R by
(
x2 sin(1/x) if x 6= 0,
f (x) =
0 if x = 0.
 1 0.01

0.8 0.008

0.6 0.006

0.4 0.004

0.2 0.002

0 0

−0.2 −0.002

−0.4 −0.004

−0.6 −0.006

−0.8 −0.008

−1 −0.01
−1 −0.5 0 0.5 1 −0.1 −0.05 0 0.05 0.1

Figure 1. A plot of the function y = x2 sin(1/x) and a detail near the origin
with the parabolas y = ±x2 shown in red.

Then f is differentiable on R. (See Figure 1.) It follows from the product and chain
6 0 with derivative
rules proved below that f is differentiable at x =
1 1
f 0 (x) = 2x sin
− cos .
x x
Moreover, f is differentiable at 0 with f 0 (0) = 0, since
f (h) − f (0) 1
lim = lim h sin = 0.
h→0 h h→0 h
In this example, limx→0 f 0 (x) does not exist, so although f is differentiable on R,
its derivative f 0 is not continuous at 0.

Derivatives as linear approximations. Another way to view Definition is to

write
f (c + h) = f (c) + f 0 (c)h + r(h)
as the sum of a linear (or, strictly speaking, affine) approximation f (c) + f 0 (c)h of
f (c + h) and a remainder r(h). In general, the remainder also depends on c, but
we don’t show this explicitly since we’re regarding c as fixed.
As we prove in the following proposition, the differentiability of f at c is equiv-
alent to the condition
r(h)
lim = 0.
h→0 h
That is, the remainder r(h) approaches 0 faster than h, so the linear terms in h
provide a leading order approximation to f (c + h) when h is small. We also write
this condition on the remainder as
r(h) = o(h) as h → 0,
pronounced “r is little-oh of h as h → 0.”
Graphically, this condition means that the graph of f near c is close the line
through the point (c, f (c)) with slope f 0 (c). Analytically, it means that the function
h 7→ f (c + h) − f (c)
is approximated near c by the linear function
h 7→ f 0 (c)h.
Thus, f 0 (c) may be interpreted as a scaling factor by which a differentiable function
f shrinks or stretches lengths near c.
If |f 0 (c)| < 1, then f shrinks the length of a small interval about c by (ap-
proximately) this factor; if |f 0 (c)| > 1, then f stretches the length of an interval
by (approximately) this factor; if f 0 (c) > 0, then f preserves the orientation of
the interval, meaning that it maps the left endpoint to the left endpoint of the
image and the right endpoint to the right endpoints; if f 0 (c) < 0, then f reverses
the orientation of the interval, meaning that it maps the left endpoint to the right
endpoint of the image and visa-versa.
We can use this description as a definition of the derivative.
Proposition Suppose that f : (a, b) → R. Then f is differentiable at c ∈
(a, b) if and only if there exists a constant A ∈ R and a function r : (a−c, b−c) → R
such that
r(h)
f (c + h) = f (c) + Ah + r(h), lim = 0.
h→0 h
In that case, A = f 0 (c).

Proof. First suppose that f is differentiable at c according to Definition 8.1, and

define
r(h) = f (c + h) − f (c) − f 0 (c)h.
Then  
r(h) f (c + h) − f (c)
lim = lim − f 0 (c) = 0,
h→0 h h→0 h
so the condition in the proposition holds with A = f 0 (c).
Conversely, suppose that f (c + h) = f (c) + Ah + r(h) where r(h)/h → 0 as
h → 0. Then    
f (c + h) − f (c) r(h)
lim = lim A + = A,
h→0 h h→0 h
so f is differentiable at c with f 0 (c) = A. 

Example For Example 8.2 with f (x) = x2 , we get

(c + h)2 = c2 + 2ch + h2 ,
and r(h) = h2 , which goes to zero at a quadratic rate as h → 0.
Example . For Example 8.4 with f (x) = 1/x, we get
1 1 1
= − 2 h + r(h),
c+h c c
for c 6= 0, where the quadratically small remainder is
h2
r(h) = .
c2 (c + h)
The inverse function theorem
The inverse function theorem gives a sufficient condition for a differentiable function
f to be locally invertible at a point c with differentiable inverse: namely, that f is
continuously differentiable at c and f 0 (c) 6= 0. Example 8.24 shows that one cannot
expect the inverse of a differentiable function f to exist locally at c if f 0 (c) = 0,
while Example 8.38 shows that the condition f 0 (c) 6= 0 is not, on its own, sufficient
to imply the existence of a local inverse.
Before stating the theorem, we give a precise definition of local invertibility.
Definition. A function f : A → R is locally invertible at an interior point
c ∈ A if there exist open neighborhoods U of c and V of f (c) such that f |U : U → V
is one-to-one and onto, in which case f has a local inverse ( f |U )−1 : V → U .

The following examples illustrate the definition.

Example If f : R → R is the square function f (x) = x2 , then a local inverse
at c = 2 with U = (1, 3) and V = (1, 9) is defined by
√
( f |U )−1 (y) = y.
Similarly, a local inverse at c = −2 with U = (−3, −1) and V = (1, 9) is defined by
√
( f |U )−1 (y) = − y.
In defining a local inverse at c, we require that it maps an open neighborhood V of
f (c) onto an open neighborhood U of c; that is, we want ( f |U )−1 (y) to be “close”
to c when y is “close” to f (c), not some more distant point that f also maps “close”
to f (c). Thus, the one-to-one, onto function g defined by
( √
− y if 1 < y < 4
g : (1, 9) → (−2, −1) ∪ [2, 3), g(y) = √
y if 4 ≤ y < 9
is not a local inverse of f at c = 2 in the sense of Definition 8.48, even though
g(f (2)) = 2 and both compositions
f ◦ g : (1, 9) → (1, 9), g ◦ f : (−2, −1) ∪ [2, 3) → (−2, −1) ∪ [2, 3)
are identity maps, since U = (−2, −1) ∪ [2, 3) is not a neighborhood of 2.
Example . The function f : R → R defined by
(
cos (1/x) if x 6= 0
f (x) =
0 if x = 0
is locally invertible at every c ∈ R with c 6= 0 or c 6= 1/(nπ) for some n ∈ Z.
Theorem (Inverse function). Suppose that f : A ⊂ R → R and c ∈ A is an
interior point of A. If f is differentiable in a neighborhood of c, f 0 (c) 6= 0, and f 0 is
continuous at c, then there are open neighborhoods U of c and V of f (c) such that
f has a local inverse ( f |U )−1 : V → U . Furthermore, the local inverse function is
differentiable at f (c) with derivative
1
[( f |U )−1 ]0 (f (c)) = 0 .
f (c)
.

Proof. Suppose, for definiteness, that f 0 (c) > 0 (otherwise, consider −f ). By the
continuity of f 0 , there exists an open interval U = (a, b) containing c on which
f 0 > 0. It follows from Theorem 8.36 that f is strictly increasing on U . Writing
V = f (U ) = (f (a), f (b)) ,
we see that f |U : U → V is one-to-one and onto, so f has a local inverse on V ,
which proves the first part of the theorem.
It remains to prove that the local inverse ( f |U )−1 , which we denote by f −1 for
short, is differentiable. First, since f is differentiable at c, we have
f (c + h) = f (c) + f 0 (c)h + r(h)
where the remainder r satisfies
r(h)
lim = 0.
h→0 h
Since f 0 (c) > 0, there exists δ > 0 such that
1
|r(h)| ≤ f 0 (c)|h| for |h| < δ.
2
It follows from the differentiability of f that, if |h| < δ,
f 0 (c)|h| = |f (c + h) − f (c) − r(h)|
≤ |f (c + h) − f (c)| + |r(h)|
1
≤ |f (c + h) − f (c)| + f 0 (c)|h|.
2
Absorbing the term proportional to |h| on the right hand side of this inequality into
the left hand side and writing
f (c + h) = f (c) + k,
we find that
1 0
f (c)|h| ≤ |k| for |h| < δ.
2
Choosing δ > 0 small enough that (c − δ, c + δ) ⊂ U , we can express h in terms of
k as
h = f −1 (f (c) + k) − f −1 (f (c)).
Using this expression in the expansion of f evaluated at c + h,
f (c + h) = f (c) + f 0 (c)h + r(h),
we get that
f (c) + k = f (c) + f 0 (c) f −1 (f (c) + k) − f −1 (f (c)) + r(h).
 

Simplifying and rearranging this equation, we obtain the corresponding expansion

for f −1 evaluated at f (c) + k,
1
f −1 (f (c) + k) = f −1 (f (c)) + k + s(k),
f 0 (c)
where the remainder s is given by
1 1
s(k) = − 0 r (h) = − 0 r f −1 (f (c) + k) − f −1 (f (c)) .


f (c) f (c)
Since f 0 (c)|h|/2 ≤ |k|, it follows that
|s(k)| 2 |r(h)|
≤ 0 2 .
|k| f (c) |h|
Therefore, by the “sandwich” theorem and the fact that h → 0 as k → 0,
|s(k)|
lim = 0.
k→0 |k|
This result proves that f −1 is differentiable at f (c) with
 −1 0 1
f (f (c)) = 0 .
f (c)
The expression for the derivative of the inverse also follows from Proposition 8.23,
but only once we know that f −1 is dfferentiable at f (c). 

One can show that Theorem 8.51 remains true under the weaker hypothesis that
the derivative exists and is nonzero in an open neighborhood of c, but in practise,
we almost always apply the theorem to continuously differentiable functions.
The inverse function theorem generalizes to functions of several variables, f :
A ⊂ Rn → Rn , with a suitable generalization of the derivative of f at c as the linear
map f 0 (c) : Rn → Rn that approximates f near c. A different proof of the exis-
tence of a local inverse is required in that case, since one cannot use monotonicity
arguments.
As an example of the application of the inverse function theorem, we consider
a simple problem from bifurcation theory.
Example . Consider the transcendental equation
y = x − k (ex − 1)
where k ∈ R is a constant parameter. Suppose that we want to solve for x ∈ R
given y ∈ R. If y = 0, then an obvious solution is x = 0. The inverse function
theorem applied to the continuously differentiable function f (x; k) = x − k(ex − 1)
implies that there are neighborhoods U , V of 0 (depending on k) such that the
equation has a unique solution x ∈ U for every y ∈ V provided that the derivative
 0.5

0
y

−0.5

−1
−1 −0.5 0 0.5 1
x

Figure 2. Graph of y = f (x; k) for the function in Example 8.52: (a) k = 0.5
(green); (b) k = 1 (blue); (c) k = 1.5 (red). When y is sufficiently close to
zero, there is a unique solution for x in some neighborhood of zero unless k = 1.

of f with respect to x at 0, given by fx (0; k) = 1 − k is non-zero i.e., provided that

k 6= 1 (see Figure 2).
 3

2.5

1.5

0.5
x

−0.5

−1

−1.5

−2
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
k

Figure 3. Plot of the solutions for x of the nonlinear equation x = k(ex − 1)

as a function of the parameter k (see Example 8.52). The point (x, k) = (0, 1)
where the two solution branches cross is called a bifurcation point.

Alternatively, we can fix a value of y, say y = 0, and ask how the solutions of
the corresponding equation for x,
x − k (ex − 1) = 0,
depend on the parameter k. Figure 2 plots the solutions for x as a function of k for
0.2 ≤ k ≤ 2. The equation has two different solutions for x unless k = 1. The branch
of nonzero solutions crosses the branch of zero solution at the point (x, k) = (0, 1),
called a bifurcation point. The implicit function theorem, which is a generalization
of the inverse function theorem, implies that a necessary condition for a solution
(x0 , k0 ) of the equation f (x; k) = 0 to be a bifurcation point, meaning that the
equation fails to have a unique solution branch x = g(k) in some neighborhood of
(x0 , k0 ), is that fx (x0 ; k0 ) = 0.