$f:\mathbb{R}\to\mathbb{R}$ satisfies $f(3x)=3f(x)-4f(x)^3, \forall x\in\mathbb{R}$ and is continuous at $x=0$. Show that $|f(x)|\le 1, \forall x.$

163 Views Asked by At

Question: $f:\mathbb{R}\to\mathbb{R}$ satisfies $f(3x)=3f(x)-4f(x)^3, \forall x\in\mathbb{R}$ and is continuous at $x=0$. Show that $|f(x)|\le 1, \forall x.$

Solution: For the sake of contradiction, let us assume that $|f(x)|>1$ for some $x\in\mathbb{R}$. Thus, $|f(x)|=\left|3f\left(\frac{x}{3}\right)-4f\left(\frac{x}{3}\right)^3\right|>1.$

Hence, either $3f\left(\frac{x}{3}\right)-4f\left(\frac{x}{3}\right)^3>1$ or $3f\left(\frac{x}{3}\right)-4f\left(\frac{x}{3}\right)^3<-1.$

Observe that from here we can conclude that either $f\left(\frac{x}{3}\right)>1$ or $f\left(\frac{x}{3}\right)<-1$, i.e, $\left|f\left(\frac{x}{3}\right)\right|>1.$

Now since $x$ was arbitrarily chosen, we can conclude that $\left|f\left(\frac{x}{3^n}\right)\right|>1, \forall n\in\mathbb{N}.$

Now, since, $f$ is continuous at $0$, by the definition of limit after Heine and definition of continuity, we can conclude that for any sequence $\{a_n\}_{n\ge 1}$, if $\lim_{n\to\infty}a_n=0,$ then $\lim_{n\to\infty}f(a_n)=f(0)$. Now, since $\lim_{n\to\infty}\frac{x}{3^n}=0\implies \lim_{n\to\infty}f\left(\frac{x}{3^n}\right)=f(0).$

Also since we have already shown that $$\left|f\left(\frac{x}{3^n}\right)\right|>1, \forall n\in\mathbb{N}\\\implies \lim_{n\to\infty}\left|f\left(\frac{x}{3^n}\right)\right|=\left|\lim_{n\to\infty}f\left(\frac{x}{3^n}\right)\right|=|f(0)|\ge 1.$$

Now substituting $x=0$ in the equality $f(3x)=3f(x)-4f(x)^3,$ we have $$f(0)=3f(0)-4f(0)^3\\\implies f(0)(2f(0)^2-1)=0\\\implies f(0)=0\text{ or }f(0)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\text{ or }f(0)=-\frac{1}{\sqrt 2}.$$ Thus, in any case, we have $|f(0)|<1$. Hence, we obtain a clear contradiction.

Hence, we can conclude that $|f(x)|\le 1, \forall x\in\mathbb{R}.$

Is this solution correct and rigorous enough? And, is there any other way to solve the same?

1

There are 1 best solutions below

0
On

Your proof is fine. One essential step (which you might want to emphasize) is that $$ | 3t - 4t^3 | > 1 \implies |t| > 1 $$ for all real numbers $t$, and that is because the polynomial $p(t) = 3t - 4t^3$ maps the interval $[-1, 1]$ into itself.

You can also argue the other way around: $|f(0)| < 1$ and the continuity at $x=0$ implies that $|f(x)| \le 1$ on some interval $(-\epsilon, \epsilon)$, and then repeated application of $$ |f(3x)| = |p(f(x)| $$ shows that $|f(x)| \le 1$ on the intervals $(-3^n \epsilon, 3^n\epsilon)$ for all positive integers $n$, and therefore on all of $\Bbb R$.