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Exercise On Distributions

This document provides a proof that it is possible to construct a function f(x) that is infinitely differentiable and has the values of an arbitrary sequence {xn} as its successive derivatives evaluated at 0. The proof constructs f(x) as an infinite series of scaled functions fn(t) such that each fn(t) is infinitely differentiable with compact support. Choosing an appropriate scaling factor ensures the series converges uniformly. Taking the term-wise derivative of the series yields the desired values xn.

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Tianyu Tao
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28 views1 page

Exercise On Distributions

This document provides a proof that it is possible to construct a function f(x) that is infinitely differentiable and has the values of an arbitrary sequence {xn} as its successive derivatives evaluated at 0. The proof constructs f(x) as an infinite series of scaled functions fn(t) such that each fn(t) is infinitely differentiable with compact support. Choosing an appropriate scaling factor ensures the series converges uniformly. Taking the term-wise derivative of the series yields the desired values xn.

Uploaded by

Tianyu Tao
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Math 725 Homework 1 Spring 2014

Tianyu Tao January 28, 2014


Problem: Given an arbitrary sequence {xn }, n = 0, 1, . . . , xn R, is it possible to nd f (x) D(R) with f (n) (0) = xn for n = 0, 1, 2, . . .?

Answer: This is possible. We shall modify the formal power series


n=1

xn n t so that the result n!

ts our purpose. First, recall that there exist (x) D(R) such that the support of is [2, 2] and n (x) = 1 on [1, 1]. We shall set fn (t) = n gn (n t), where n is a scaling factor to be chosen xn n later, and gn (t) = fn (t), in order to show this series t (t). We want to dene f (t) = n! n=0
n k k n converge and has the right derivative, note fn (t) = gn , n gn (n x)n = n ( k ) kn n we want to choose n so that n gn < 2 for 0 k < n, this is doable since by our (k) construction gn D(R), so gn is nite for each such k , so we can pick large enough n to satisfy our requirement. Thus, we can show the f (t) so dened above is indeed in D(R), x any natural number k (k) (k ) (k) (k ) k (including 0), we have n>k |fn (t)|, note n=1 |fn (t)| + n=1 |fn (t)| = n=1 fn (t) (k ) (k) (k)

by our choice of n , for n > k we have that fn < 2n , so n>k |fn (t)| will converge, (k) (k ) and since k n=1 |fn (t)| is a nite sum, we see n=1 fn (t) converge for any k and any t uniformly. By the theorem about uniform convergence and dierentiation we must conclude that f (t) = n fn (t) is well-dened and can be dierentiated term-by-term to any order. To see f (t) have the desired property, namely f (n) (0) = xn for each n. We dierentiate fn k times and apply the product rule several times, and we see
(k) fn (t) k j

(k)

(k)

xn = n!

j =0

k j (kj ) (tn )(j ) k (n t) n j

Now, for j < k , (0) = 0 because (t) = 1 for t [1, 1], also note that for k < n, (t ) |t=0 = 0, and for k > n, (tn )(k) = 0, hence we see: xn (0) (0)n! = xn , if n = k (k) fn (0) = n! 0 if n = k
n (k )

Since f (t) = fn (t), we have f (n) (0) = fn (0) = xn , and the f we constructed has its support a subset of [2, 2], indeed f D(R). 1

(n)

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