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A nonconstant holomorphic function on a domain maps open sets to open sets. Around any point, isolate its zero relative to the value there and use Rouché's theorem to show that every sufficiently nearby value has a preimage.

Rouché's theorem states that if $f,g$ are holomorphic functions on a neighbourhood of a simple closed contour and its interior, and $|g|<|f|$ on the contour, then $f$ and $f+g$ have the same number of zeros inside, counted with multiplicity.

On $|z|=1$, use $f=6z^2$: the other terms have absolute value at most $1+3+1=5<6$. Hence there are two zeros inside the unit circle. On $|z|=2$, use $f=3z^7$: its modulus is $384$, whereas the other terms have total modulus at most $256+24+1=281$. Hence there are seven zeros inside the larger circle. The strict inequalities also exclude zeros on either boundary. There are $7-2=5$ roots in the annulus, counted with multiplicity.

The hypothesis says that $f$ has a zero of order $k$ at $a$, so writewith $g$ holomorphic near $a$. Differentiating givesChoose $\delta >0$ so small that the closed disc $\overline{D}(a,\delta )$ lies in the domain, $g$ never vanishes there, and the parenthesized factor never vanishes there. Thus $a$ is the only critical point of $f$ in that disc.

On the boundary circle, $f$ is nonzero. SetIf $0<|b|<\epsilon$, then $|b|<|f(z)|$ on the boundary. Rouché's theorem applied to $f$ and $f-b$ says that $f-b$ has the same number of zeros in $D(a,\delta )$ as $f$, namely $k$, counted with multiplicity.

None of these zeros is $a$ because $b\ne 0$, and none is a critical point because $f^{\prime }$ has no other zero in the disc. Every zero of $f-b$ is therefore simple. Hence there are exactly

Uniform convergence on compact subsets makes $f$ continuous. For every triangle whose closure lies in $U$, uniform convergence on its boundary permits passage through the contour integral:Morera's theorem implies that $f$ is holomorphic. If a compact set $K⋐U$ is surrounded by a finite union of contours at positive distance from $K$, the Cauchy integral formula for derivatives givesThe uniform bound on the surrounding compact set proves that $f_n^{\prime }\to f^{\prime }$ uniformly on $K$.

If $f$ had distinct zeros $c$ and $d$, choose disjoint small closed discs around them whose boundary contains no zero of $f$. Uniform convergence and Rouché's theorem imply that, for large $n$, $f_n$ has a zero in each disc, contradicting uniqueness of $c_n$. Thus $f$ has at most one zero.

For an example on the unit disc, takeThen $f_n\to f(z)=z-1$, which has no zero in the open disc. In general, Hurwitz's theorem shows that $f$ is zero-free exactly when the unique zeros escape every compact subset of $U$:Indeed, an interior accumulation point of $c_n$ is a zero of $f$, while a zero of $f$ forces the unique $c_n$ into each of its sufficiently small neighbourhoods.

Rouché's theorem states that if $g$ and $h$ are holomorphic functions on a neighbourhood of the closure of a bounded domain andon its positively oriented boundary, then $g$ and $g+h$ 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 $z_0$ and put $w_0=f(z_0)$. By the identity theorem, the zeros of $f-w_0$ are isolated. Choose $r>0$ so that the closed disc $\overline{D(z_0,r)}$ lies in the domain and $z_0$ is the only zero of $f-w_0$ in that disc. ThenWhenever $|w-w_0|<\delta$, the constant $w_0-w$ has modulus smaller than $f-w_0$ on the circle. The Rouche theorem therefore says thathas the same positive number of zeros in the disc as $f-w_0$. Thus every $w\in D(w_0,\delta )$ lies in the image of $f$, proving that the image is open.

If $|f|$ had a local maximum at $z_0$, take a small open disc $D$ on which $|f(z)|\le |f(z_0)|$. The restriction of $f$ to $D$ cannot be constant, since the identity theorem would then make $f$ constant on the whole domain. The complex open mapping theorem says that $f(D)$ is an open neighbourhood of $f(z_0)$, and such a neighbourhood contains points of modulus greater than $|f(z_0)|$, a contradiction. This proves the maximum modulus principle from the complex open mapping theorem.

Now let $\Omega$ be bounded. Its closure is compact, so the continuous function $|f|$ attains a maximum there. If $f$ is nonconstant, the maximum modulus principle excludes an interior maximum; if $f$ is constant, the claimed bound is immediate. Hencewhich is the maximum modulus principle on a bounded domain.

Finally let $\Omega =\{z:\mathrm{Re}z>1\}$ and suppose $|f|\le K$ throughout $\overline{\Omega }$. Fix $z_0\in \Omega$. The principal complex logarithm is holomorphic on the right half-plane, so for each positive integer $n$ the functionis holomorphic on $\Omega$ and continuous on its closure. Given $\epsilon >0$, choose $R>|z_0|$ so large thatApply the bounded-domain result to $g_n$ on $\Omega \cap D(0,R)$. On the vertical part of the boundary, $|z|\ge 1$ and hence $|g_n(z)|\le M$. On the circular part,It follows thatLetting $n\to \infty$ and then $\epsilon \to 0$ gives $|f(z_0)|\le M$. Since $z_0$ was arbitrary, this proves the bounded half-plane maximum principle.

The boundedness assumption is necessary. The functionis holomorphic on $\Omega$ and continuous on its closure, and $|f(1+iy)|=e$ on the boundary, but $|f(x)|=e^x$ is unbounded for real $x>1$. Thus the boundary estimate does not control an unbounded holomorphic function on this unbounded domain.

For a closed piecewise smooth curve $\gamma$ avoiding $w$, its winding number about $w$ is

The argument principle says that if a positively oriented closed curve $\gamma$ bounds a domain $U$, and a meromorphic function $F$ has no zeros or poles on $\gamma$, thenwhere zeros and poles are counted with multiplicity.

Suppose $F$ and $G$ are holomorphic on a neighbourhood of $\overline{U}$ andFor $0\le t\le 1$, $F+tG$ has no boundary zero, because a zero would imply $|F|=t|G|<|F|$. Its argument-principle count is integer-valued and continuous in $t$, hence constant. Thus Rouché's theorem states that

Now let $w_0=f(z_0)$. Since $|w_0|<1\le |f|$ on the unit circle, Rouché's theorem shows that $f$ and $f-w_0$ have the same number of zeros in the unit disc. The latter has the zero $z_0$, so $f$ has at least one zero there. For any $w$ with $|w|<1$, the same boundary inequality shows that $f-w$ has the same positive number of zeros as $f$. ThereforeThis is the unit-disc image from a boundary modulus lower bound.

Finally, take a sufficiently small positively oriented circle $C$ around zero. The residueis the winding number of $g(C)$ around zero, so $k\in \mathbb{Z}$. The pole is simple, hence its residue is nonzero and $k\ne 0$. Forwe haveThe second term cancels the complete principal part at zero, so the integer residue of a logarithmic derivative proves that $h^{\prime }/h$ has a removable singularity there.