For the necessity in the differentiability of the square of a continuous function, suppose is differentiable at . If , continuity makes nonzero for small , and
Hence is differentiable at , giving alternative (i).
If , is a minimum because . The right difference quotients of are nonnegative and the left ones are nonpositive; since their common limit exists, it must be zero. Thus , and
Taking square roots of this nonnegative expression shows , giving alternative (ii). The two labelled parts below establish sufficiency of the respective alternatives. Together they prove the full stated equivalence, including the zero of where squaring can remove a failure of differentiability.