Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2001/ib/paper-3/11a/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 ib Paper 3 11A Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For the differentiability from continuous partial derivatives argument, choose a small box around zero inside the given open set. For in that box, telescope by changing one coordinate at a time. The one-dimensional mean value theorem on the th coordinate segment giveswhere lies on that segment, and therefore . A zero-length segment contributes zero and needs no choice of intermediate point. Set . For every , continuity of the finitely many partial derivatives at zero gives when is sufficiently small. Then the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality givesThus is Fréchet differentiable at zero, with derivative . No continuity of the partial derivatives away from zero was used.
For the supplied one-dimensional function,The derivative at zero follows from . For nonzero the derivative is continuous. At zero, the sequences and give derivative values and . Since , the partial derivative is continuous exactly where , irrespective of .
Nevertheless is differentiable at every point of the plane. The one-dimensional function is differentiable at every real number. At a fixed ,Their sum has remainder , which proves Fréchet differentiability with derivative . In particular, at the origin , an immediate remainder bound. Continuity of all partial derivatives is sufficient, not necessary, for differentiability.
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