One form of the Baire category theorem says that a nonempty complete metric space cannot be a countable union of closed nowhere dense sets.
For each nonnegative integer , put
Because is an entire function, every derivative is continuous and is closed. No is identically zero: if for some , repeated integration shows that is a polynomial. By the identity theorem, the zero set of the nonzero holomorphic function has empty interior. Thus each is nowhere dense.
The complex plane is complete, so the Baire category theorem gives
Choose outside this union. Then for every , and hence every coefficient in the Taylor series about is nonzero. Such a point therefore exists.
Apply the Hankel representation with replaced by :
Enlarge to a modified Hankel contour that encloses the simple poles , . In a strip where the deformation and residue sum converge, the outer pieces vanish and the orientation gives the Hankel integral as minus times the sum of the enclosed residues. Part (b) gives
Substitution therefore yields
Both sides are meromorphic functions of , so the identity theorem extends the equality from the initial strip to every point where either side is defined.
For each , define
Every is an entire function, hence continuous, so is closed. The hypothesis says
The complex plane is a complete metric space. The Baire category theorem therefore implies that some has nonempty interior. Thus vanishes on an open set, and the identity theorem gives
on all of . If , then ; otherwise the power series of has no term of degree or higher. Hence is a polynomial of degree at most . This is the pointwise vanishing derivative criterion for a polynomial.
Let the argument of increase by along a counterclockwise path enclosing both branch points. On a large circle, the branch chosen in part (a) satisfies
The change in the primitive is consequently
Equivalently, this is the composition of the two reflections described by the monodromy of the complex inverse sine. Thus, for this orientation,
The reverse orientation gives . Both continued values invert the same , so on an open set of inverse values. The identity theorem extends this equality to every , proving the periodicity of the complex sine:
For , the absolutely convergent Dirichlet series
defines the Riemann zeta function. To continue it, use partial summation in Stieltjes form:
Since , the final integral converges locally uniformly for and is holomorphic there. The displayed expression is consequently a meromorphic function on that half-plane, with its only pole at . Since has residue one there, so does . Agreement in makes this continuation unique by the identity theorem.
The identity theorem states that if two holomorphic functions on a connected open set agree on a subset having an accumulation point in , then they agree throughout . In particular, agreement on any nonempty open subset is sufficient.
An analytic continuation of from to is a holomorphic function on whose restriction to the nonempty overlap agrees with .
Suppose and are two such continuations. Both equal on , so
on that nonempty open set. Since is connected, the identity theorem gives
Thus analytic continuation to is unique.
An analytic continuation along is a chain of function elements covering the path, beginning with the germ of at , such that neighboring elements agree on the component of overlap met by the path. The terminal element is .
The monodromy theorem says that if continuation is possible along every path in , then continuations along endpoint-fixed homotopic paths have the same terminal germ. It follows by subdividing a homotopy square into small rectangles on which the identity theorem identifies neighboring germs. Hence
The requested final example with homotopic paths and different terminal values cannot exist under these hypotheses; it contradicts the theorem just proved. With “non-homotopic” in place of “homotopic”, take the germ of near in . Continuation along the constant path gives , whereas continuation once counterclockwise around zero gives .
Use a keyhole contour about the negative real axis, indented symmetrically around the pole . The jump of across the cut is determined by the chosen branch, and the small and large circular contributions vanish for . The residue theorem, with the symmetric indentation interpreted as a Cauchy principal value, gives
Splitting the real axis at zero and substituting in the negative part gives two linear relations. Solving them yields, for real ,
Both sides are holomorphic functions of throughout the vertical strip : convergence is locally uniform there, and the trigonometric expressions are holomorphic away from integer poles. The identity theorem therefore extends the identities from real to the whole strip.
Rouché's theorem states that if and are holomorphic functions on a neighbourhood of the closure of a bounded domain and
on its positively oriented boundary, then and have the same number of zeros in the domain, counted with multiplicity.
The Open mapping theorem states that a nonconstant holomorphic function on a domain maps every open subset to an open subset. To prove it, fix and put . By the identity theorem, the zeros of are isolated. Choose so that the closed disc lies in the domain and is the only zero of in that disc. Then
Whenever , the constant has modulus smaller than on the circle. The Rouche theorem therefore says that
has the same positive number of zeros in the disc as . Thus every lies in the image of , proving that the image is open.
If had a local maximum at , take a small open disc on which . The restriction of to cannot be constant, since the identity theorem would then make constant on the whole domain. The complex open mapping theorem says that is an open neighbourhood of , and such a neighbourhood contains points of modulus greater than , a contradiction. This proves the maximum modulus principle from the complex open mapping theorem.
Now let be bounded. Its closure is compact, so the continuous function attains a maximum there. If is nonconstant, the maximum modulus principle excludes an interior maximum; if is constant, the claimed bound is immediate. Hence
which is the maximum modulus principle on a bounded domain.
Finally let and suppose throughout . Fix . The principal complex logarithm is holomorphic on the right half-plane, so for each positive integer the function
is holomorphic on and continuous on its closure. Given , choose so large that
Apply the bounded-domain result to on . On the vertical part of the boundary, and hence . On the circular part,
It follows that
Letting and then gives . Since was arbitrary, this proves the bounded half-plane maximum principle.
The boundedness assumption is necessary. The function
is holomorphic on and continuous on its closure, and on the boundary, but is unbounded for real . Thus the boundary estimate does not control an unbounded holomorphic function on this unbounded domain.
The nonzero poles are
Their paired residues sum to
The paired series converges for by the alternating-series test, and absolutely for . Therefore
Using the stated contour closure, the Hankel integral is times this sum. Substitution into part (a) gives
Now and , so
It was derived on a nonempty half-plane. Both sides have analytic continuations, with the apparent gamma poles cancelled by the sine factor or the trivial zeros from part (b); the identity theorem therefore extends it to every .
No such entire function exists. If it did, the entire function would vanish at the distinct points , whose accumulation point is one. The identity theorem would give on all of .
At zero this forces . Differentiating the identity gives , impossible at zero. Equivalently, a squared holomorphic function has an even-order zero, whereas has a simple zero. This is the obstruction expressed by no entire square root of the identity function; a square-root branch near one cannot extend holomorphically through zero.
Yes: take the unnormalized sinc function with its removable value at zero,
Its power series is , with infinite radius of convergence, so it is an entire function. At it gives as required. The identity theorem also proves this entire solution is unique.
The identity theorem says that two holomorphic functions on a connected domain which agree on a set with an accumulation point inside that domain agree everywhere there.
No such entire function exists. On the subsequence indexed by even numbers, the proposed function equals . The identity theorem would force throughout . At the points indexed by odd numbers it is instead required to equal , a contradiction since for positive . The accumulation point zero lies inside the assumed domain of holomorphy, which is essential to this argument.
The identity theorem states that if two holomorphic functions on a connected open set agree at a sequence of distinct points with an accumulation point inside that set, then they agree everywhere on it. Equivalently, the zeros of a holomorphic function which is not identically zero cannot accumulate inside its domain.
Because never vanish, their logarithmic derivatives are holomorphic. The holomorphic function
vanishes at every . Since the distinct converge to , the identity theorem gives . Applying the quotient rule now gives
A holomorphic function with zero derivative on a domain is constant. One can see this locally from its Taylor series, then propagate the constant using connectedness. Hence on , with , and
The conclusion can fail if the accumulation occurs outside . Take the punctured complex plane and
Both functions are nowhere vanishing and holomorphic on , and . The chain rule gives
so these logarithmic derivatives agree at every . However, is not constant: for example and . Therefore no constant gives .
The identity theorem states: if is a nonempty connected open set and are holomorphic functions on , and their equality set has a limit point in , then
The interior location of the limit point and connectedness are essential hypotheses.
For the proof put . At any , its convergent Taylor series either has every coefficient zero, making zero on a neighbourhood, or has a first nonzero coefficient, of degree . In the latter case,
where is holomorphic near . By continuity, is nonzero on a smaller disc. Thus any zero at is isolated unless vanishes on a neighbourhood. An accumulation of distinct zeros at the assumed interior limit point therefore forces the neighbourhood alternative.
Let be the set of points of with a neighbourhood on which . We have just proved , and is an open set. It is also a closed set relative to : a point of its closure outside would be approached by distinct points of , hence by zeros, and the same Taylor series argument would place it in . Since is connected, . Thus on , proving the theorem.
Define . To apply the identity theorem, we first verify that is holomorphic; mere complex conjugation of the values of would not suffice. For ,
Thus is an entire function, just as is. At each positive integer , the point is real and is real, so . These distinct points accumulate at . The identity theorem on the connected complex plane gives
This is conjugate reflection of a holomorphic function, with the reality data forcing equality to its reflection.
We prove the Casorati-Weierstrass theorem by contradiction. Fix an allowed . If the stated image were not a dense set in , there would be a disc disjoint from it. Hence
The holomorphic function is bounded by on that punctured disc. By the permitted Riemann removable singularity theorem, it extends to a holomorphic function on the full disc.
If , then is holomorphic near and agrees with away from . This makes a removable singularity of .
If , then is not identically zero, since is nowhere zero away from . Its Taylor series therefore has a finite first nonzero coefficient: otherwise the identity theorem would make it identically zero. Write with and . Then
has a pole of order at , since multiplying by gives the nonzero limit .
Both cases contradict an essential singularity. Thus
Pointwise vanishing derivative criterion for a polynomial Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Suppose that for every , at least one derivative of an entire function vanishes. The closed sets cover . By the Baire category theorem, some has nonempty interior. The identity theorem gives everywhere, so is a polynomial of degree below .
On a simply connected domain , a germ of a holomorphic function admitting analytic continuation along every path from its base point determines a unique holomorphic function with that initial germ of a holomorphic function. [ref]
Indeed, any two paths with the same endpoints are homotopic with endpoints fixed. Define using the terminal germ of a holomorphic function. The monodromy theorem makes this independent of the path. In a small open disc about , extend the chosen route by a short segment; the same local representative supplies throughout the open disc, proving holomorphy. The identity theorem proves uniqueness. The existence hypothesis of the monodromy theorem must still be checked.