Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2015/prelims/mathematics-ii/6/b/ii/solution

Choose . Then and . The mean value theorem states that a continuous function on a closed interval, differentiable in its interior, has an interior derivative equal to its endpoint difference quotient. It gives with
Here , , and the right-hand side tends to by differentiability at . If exists, the same values must tend to . Uniqueness of the limit of a sequence gives
Thus a derivative cannot have a removable discontinuity at a point where the original function is differentiable. The proof also excludes an infinite limit of a function there, since the displayed difference quotients have a finite limit of a sequence.

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