Partial derivative and Cauchy's functional equation.

49 Views Asked by At

When we compute derivatives on functional equations such as Cauchy's functional equation, is it possible to say we do partial differentiation?

For example, in Cauchy's functional equation, $$f(x+y)=f(x)+f(y), f:\mathbb{R}\to\mathbb{R}$$ Let's hold $y$ constant $y_0$,$$f(x+y_0)=f(x)+f(y_0)$$ If we differentiate both sides of the equation, we get the next equation. $$ f'(x+y_0)=f'(x)$$ Could we say we computed partial derivative of the $f_x$ because of $y$ held constant?

1

There are 1 best solutions below

0
On BEST ANSWER

Since $f$ is a map from $\mathbb R$ into $\mathbb R$, it is weird to talk about partial derivatives here; there is just the derivative of $f$. On the other hand, you proved correctly that, if $f$ is a differentiable solution of Cauchy's functional equation, the$$(\forall x,y_0\in\mathbb R):f'(x+y_0)=f'(x).$$In other words, you have proved that $f'$ is constant. That's not unexpected, since every continuous solution of Cauchy's functional equation is of the form $x\mapsto cx$, for some constant $c$.