For real square-integrable , nonnegativity of gives a quadratic in the real number . If , choose to obtain
If , then almost everywhere and the same inequality is immediate. This proves the integral Cauchy-Schwarz inequality.
Put and . The forward speed satisfies , so . The change of variables gives . Apply the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality to and the constant function one:
Equality holds exactly when is constant almost everywhere. Equivalently, the time and distance averages of speed satisfy , which identifies the excess as a measure of speed variation.