Post History
#2: Post edited
- **This is not a complete answer, but only an attempt for it.**
- It should not be surprising that considering the specific form $f(x)=k\sin(jx+y)$ , the condition $f'(0)=1$ fixes value of all the 3 paramters $k,j,y$:
- * Since $1$ is the maximum value $f'(x)$ is allowed to attain, it must be that $y=0$ (other other value resulting in identical function $f$ due to its periodicity).
- * The condition $jk=1$ together with $|k|\leq 1$ and implies that $k=j=1$. Indeed, otherwise $|j|>1$, and so $f^{(n)}(0)$ would be greater than $1$ in absolute value for some $n$ large.
- <hr/>
- What I actually find surprising is how hard it seems to find any function $f$ with $f'(x)=1$ and $|f^{(n)}(x)|\leq 1$ for all $n=0,1,\ldots$ and $x\in \Bbb R$. A possible approach to do so is to consider the functions in the form
- $$
- f(x) = \sin(g(x)),
- $$
- where $g(x)$ is some function with $g'(0)=1$. Then the derivatives of $f$ are
- \begin{align}
f'(x) &= g'(x) \sin(g(x)) \\f''(x) &= g''(x) \sin(g(x)) + [g'(x)]^2 \sin(g(x)) \\f^{(3)}(x) &= g^{(3)}(x) \sin(g(x)) + 2g''(x)g'(x)^2 \sin(g(x))+ [g'(x)]^3 \sin(g(x)) \\&= \left[\left(\frac{d}{dx}+g'(x) ight)^2 g'(x) ight] \sin(g(x)),\\- f^{(n)}(x) &= \left[\left(\frac{d}{dx}+g'(x)\right)^{n-1} g'(x) \right] \sin(g(x)),
- \end{align}
- where $\left(\frac{d}{dx}+g'(x)\right)^{n-1}$ is first expanded using the [binomial formula](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binomial_theorem), and finally applied to $f'(x)$ in the sense that $\left(\frac d {dx}\right)^n f'(x) = f^{(n+1)}(x)$.
- Unfortunately, I don't know how to continue from here. I tried to consider functions $g$ with $g'(0)=1$ and whose derivatives would be vanishing as $|x|\to \infty$, but there is always some derivative that happens to be greater than 1.
- **This is not a complete answer, but only an attempt for it.**
- It should not be surprising that considering the specific form $f(x)=k\sin(jx+y)$ , the condition $f'(0)=1$ fixes value of all the 3 paramters $k,j,y$:
- * Since $1$ is the maximum value $f'(x)$ is allowed to attain, it must be that $y=0$ (other other value resulting in identical function $f$ due to its periodicity).
- * The condition $jk=1$ together with $|k|\leq 1$ and implies that $k=j=1$. Indeed, otherwise $|j|>1$, and so $f^{(n)}(0)$ would be greater than $1$ in absolute value for some $n$ large.
- <hr/>
- What I actually find surprising is how hard it seems to find any function $f$ with $f'(x)=1$ and $|f^{(n)}(x)|\leq 1$ for all $n=0,1,\ldots$ and $x\in \Bbb R$. A possible approach to do so is to consider the functions in the form
- $$
- f(x) = \sin(g(x)),
- $$
- where $g(x)$ is some function with $g'(0)=1$. Then the derivatives of $f$ are
- \begin{align}
- f'(x) &= g'(x) \sin(g(x)) \\\\
- f''(x) &= g''(x) \sin(g(x)) + [g'(x)]^2 \sin(g(x)) \\\\
- f^{(3)}(x) &= g^{(3)}(x) \sin(g(x)) + 2g''(x)g'(x)^2 \sin(g(x))+ [g'(x)]^3 \sin(g(x)) \\\\
- &= \left[\left(\frac{d}{dx}+g'(x) ight)^2 g'(x) ight] \sin(g(x)),\\\\
- f^{(n)}(x) &= \left[\left(\frac{d}{dx}+g'(x)\right)^{n-1} g'(x) \right] \sin(g(x)),
- \end{align}
- where $\left(\frac{d}{dx}+g'(x)\right)^{n-1}$ is first expanded using the [binomial formula](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binomial_theorem), and finally applied to $f'(x)$ in the sense that $\left(\frac d {dx}\right)^n f'(x) = f^{(n+1)}(x)$.
- Unfortunately, I don't know how to continue from here. I tried to consider functions $g$ with $g'(0)=1$ and whose derivatives would be vanishing as $|x|\to \infty$, but there is always some derivative that happens to be greater than 1.
#1: Initial revision
**This is not a complete answer, but only an attempt for it.** It should not be surprising that considering the specific form $f(x)=k\sin(jx+y)$ , the condition $f'(0)=1$ fixes value of all the 3 paramters $k,j,y$: * Since $1$ is the maximum value $f'(x)$ is allowed to attain, it must be that $y=0$ (other other value resulting in identical function $f$ due to its periodicity). * The condition $jk=1$ together with $|k|\leq 1$ and implies that $k=j=1$. Indeed, otherwise $|j|>1$, and so $f^{(n)}(0)$ would be greater than $1$ in absolute value for some $n$ large. <hr/> What I actually find surprising is how hard it seems to find any function $f$ with $f'(x)=1$ and $|f^{(n)}(x)|\leq 1$ for all $n=0,1,\ldots$ and $x\in \Bbb R$. A possible approach to do so is to consider the functions in the form $$ f(x) = \sin(g(x)), $$ where $g(x)$ is some function with $g'(0)=1$. Then the derivatives of $f$ are \begin{align} f'(x) &= g'(x) \sin(g(x)) \\ f''(x) &= g''(x) \sin(g(x)) + [g'(x)]^2 \sin(g(x)) \\ f^{(3)}(x) &= g^{(3)}(x) \sin(g(x)) + 2g''(x)g'(x)^2 \sin(g(x))+ [g'(x)]^3 \sin(g(x)) \\ &= \left[\left(\frac{d}{dx}+g'(x)\right)^2 g'(x) \right] \sin(g(x)),\\ f^{(n)}(x) &= \left[\left(\frac{d}{dx}+g'(x)\right)^{n-1} g'(x) \right] \sin(g(x)), \end{align} where $\left(\frac{d}{dx}+g'(x)\right)^{n-1}$ is first expanded using the [binomial formula](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binomial_theorem), and finally applied to $f'(x)$ in the sense that $\left(\frac d {dx}\right)^n f'(x) = f^{(n+1)}(x)$. Unfortunately, I don't know how to continue from here. I tried to consider functions $g$ with $g'(0)=1$ and whose derivatives would be vanishing as $|x|\to \infty$, but there is always some derivative that happens to be greater than 1.