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A Topological Mean Value Theorem For The Plane PDF
A Topological Mean Value Theorem For The Plane PDF
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Department
EasternIllinoisUniversity,
IL 61920
of Mathematics,
Charleston,
t=
NorthPole
t=O
It/
y=t
FIG.
1(a)
FIG.
1(b)
149
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150
[February
IRA ROSENHOLTZ
t=2
-1
-2
t=
x = 4 -t
y = t3 - 3t
-2 < t S 2
FIG. 1(c)
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1991]
THE TEACHING
OF MATHEMATICS
151
fl~~~(to
y=
Y(to)
x O
x =x(t0)
FIG. 2
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152
[February
IRA ROSENHOLTZ
We now deriveseveralcorollaries.
The firstis about simpleclosed paths in the plane. (Here it maybe convenient
simple closed path in the plane as a nondegenerate
to thinkof a differentiable
functionfromR to 0R2.)It saysroughlythatifyou traversea
periodicdifferentiable
nonstopfashion,thenyou musthave been
simpleclosed curvein a differentiable,
of thisis thatifa
facingin everydirectionat least once. An amusinginterpretation
nonstop closed path is one-to-one(i.e., simple), then the set of
differentiable,
tangentdirections(i.e., unittangentvectors)is onto the unitcircle.The reader is
invitedto compare this situationto closed paths that are eithernonsimple,not
at even a singlepoint.
nonstop,or nondifferentiable
COROLLARY
nonstopsimpleclosedpath in theplane
1. If 8 is a differentiable,
= u.
and u is anyunitvectorin theplane, thenthereis a to such that5'(to)/1186(to)II
The idea is to use the JordanCurve Theorem again. Take a pointin the inside
of the simpleclosed curveand constructthe line throughthispointparallel to u.
This line intersectsthe simpleclosed curvein (at least) two points A and B. Part
of the timeour path goes fromA to B, and partof the timeit goes fromB to A,
and it is now a simplematterto apply the Topological Mean Value Theorem to
obtain the result.
One of the prettyapplicationsof Rolle's Theorem is the IntermediateValue
on the closed
TheoremforDerivatives(Darboux's Theorem):If f is differentiable
f'(a)
f'(b).
and
We prove the
interval[a, b], then f' attainsall values between
followinganalogue:
2. (IntermediateValue Theoremfor DerivativeDirections).Suppose
COROLLARY
that
thatfl: [a, b] -- R2 is a differentiable,
nonstoparc in theplane. Supposefurther
at botha and b. Thenf'(t)/Ijl'(t)II takeson everyvalue
fl has a nonzeroderivative
arcsbetween
f'(a)/IIf1'(a)IIand f'(b)/IIO/(b)II.
on at leastoneof thetwocircular
theset of derivativedirections
formsa connectedsubsetof the unit
And, therefore,
circle.
or this
(Recall thatwe are not assumingthat fl is continuouslydifferentiable,
wouldn't be very surprising.Also notice that this corollaryimplies Darboux's
Theorem:let fl(t) = (t, f(t)) and use the factthat fl' neverpointsleft.)
Proof. Consider the set S = {(s, t)Ia < s < t < b}. Then S is connected,and
- s] and H(s, t)
h(s, t)/IIh(s,
t)IIare
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1991]
THE TEACHING
153
OF MATHEMATICS
,3 is nonstop;
/3(1/2)= (1/2,0) and ,B(1) = (1, 0);
03'(1/2) =ff();
,B'(t) 0 (1, 0) forall t.
1/81
- 1/2
FIG. 3
has as its set of velocityvectorsa spiral about a circleof radius r centeredat (p, q), togetherwithits
center.However,our "machine" answersall three. In addition,the "machine" may be modifiedto
path whose set of velocityvectorsis the entireplane.
produce a differentiable
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154
WALTER
CARLIP
[February
limf'(t)/j10'(t)01,
assuming
thelatterlimitexists.
One interpretation
of this is that if a particlestartsat the originin the plane,
then,under reasonable conditions,its "position directions"are closely approximated by its "velocitydirections."Anotherinterpretation,
whichis perhaps even
more intuitive,is thatif a particlehas constantmass and zero initialvelocity,then
(undersuitableconditions)itsunitvelocityvectorsnear the startare approximately
its unit accelerationvectors(i.e., its force directionvectors).In otherwords,if a
particleis at rest,thenthe directionit goes is prettymuch the directionyou push
it. I guess the only real surprisehere is thatwe are not even assumingthat the
forceis continuous.
The proofof this corollaryis identicalto the usual proofof L'Hopital's Rule
giventhe Generalized Mean Value Theorem and is omitted.
Department
ofMathematics,Ohio University,
Athens,OH 45701
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