Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2014 / ib / Paper 4 / 4G / Solution

For an entire function, the Cauchy derivative formula on a positively oriented circle of radius $R$ about $z_0$ isThe resulting Cauchy estimate is $|f^{(n)}(z_0)|\le n!M_R/R^n$, where $M_R$ is the maximum of $|f|$ on that circle.

The Liouville theorem says that a bounded entire function is constant. Indeed, if $|f|\le M$ on the plane, the Cauchy estimate with $n=1$ gives $|f^{\prime }(z_0)|\le M/R$. Sending $R$ to infinity gives $f^{\prime }(z_0)=0$ at every point, hence $f$ is constant.

For the growth assumption, apply the Cauchy estimate on circles centred at zero. For every integer $n>k$,All sufficiently high Taylor series vanish. Since the Taylor series of an entire function converges everywhere, $f$ is a polynomial, of degree at most $\lfloor k\rfloor$ when $k\ge 0$. If a negative finite exponent is interpreted for nonzero $z$, the same estimate forces every coefficient to vanish, giving $f=0$.