Constant of integration Created 2026-10-14 Updated 2026-10-31
On a connected open interval, if , every antiderivative of has the form , where is a constant function. Indeed, two solutions satisfy : the zero derivative on a connected open set principle makes their difference constant. In one dimension, the mean value theorem proves this on any closed subinterval. [ref]
An initial condition or boundary condition can determine . If a particular antiderivative is and , then
For , and , this gives . Without that reference value, choosing simply selects one member of the family.
The freedom has a physical meaning in a simple kinematic model. A velocity , with constant acceleration , determines position only as . The initial condition selects ; changing the starting position does not change the prescribed velocity.
For the differential equation on , the antiderivative is . The boundary condition gives . Discarding the constant of integration therefore needs a specified condition or an approximation that quantifies its effect. On a domain with several connected components, the freedom is larger: antiderivatives on disconnected domains require a separate constant on each component.
Differentiate
Using and gives
By the zero derivative on a connected open set, is independent of .
For , the function is differentiable at if there is a linear map such that
The linear map is unique and is the Fréchet derivative . The function is continuously differentiable at if it is differentiable on a neighbourhood of and the map , with values in the space of linear maps equipped with the operator norm, is continuous at .
If is linear, then
Consequently at every . The derivative is a constant function of , hence is continuous, so every linear map is continuously differentiable everywhere.
The mean value inequality says that if the line segment lies in and
then
To prove it, put . The claim is immediate if . Otherwise set and apply the one-dimensional mean value theorem to the real-valued function
For some , the chain rule gives
as required.
Now suppose that is open and connected and that for every . Every point has an open ball contained in . The mean value inequality with shows that is constant on each such ball, so is locally constant. Fix . The level set
is nonempty and open in ; its complement is also open because is locally constant. Since is connected, . This proves the zero derivative on a connected open set result: is constant.
The inverse function theorem states that if is continuously differentiable, , and is an invertible linear map, then there are open neighbourhoods of and of such that is a bijection whose inverse is continuously differentiable.
For the curve in the question, define the continuously differentiable function
Then
The implicit function theorem, which follows from the inverse function theorem applied to , therefore gives an open interval containing , an open neighbourhood of , and a continuously differentiable, hence continuous, function such that