Differentiability of monotone functions #
We show that a monotone function f : ℝ → ℝ is differentiable almost everywhere, in
Monotone.ae_differentiableAt. (We also give a version for a function monotone on a set, in
MonotoneOn.ae_differentiableWithinAt.)
If the function f is continuous, this follows directly from general differentiation of measure
theorems. Let μ be the Stieltjes measure associated to f. Then, almost everywhere,
μ [x, y] / Leb [x, y] (resp. μ [y, x] / Leb [y, x]) converges to the Radon-Nikodym derivative
of μ with respect to Lebesgue when y tends to x in (x, +∞) (resp. (-∞, x)), by
VitaliFamily.ae_tendsto_rnDeriv. As μ [x, y] = f y - f x and Leb [x, y] = y - x, this
gives differentiability right away.
When f is only monotone, the same argument works up to small adjustments, as the associated
Stieltjes measure satisfies μ [x, y] = f (y^+) - f (x^-) (the right and left limits of f at y
and x respectively). One argues that f (x^-) = f x almost everywhere (in fact away from a
countable set), and moreover f ((y - (y-x)^2)^+) ≤ f y ≤ f (y^+). This is enough to deduce the
limit of (f y - f x) / (y - x) by a lower and upper approximation argument from the known
behavior of μ [x, y].
If (f y - f x) / (y - x) converges to a limit as y tends to x, then the same goes if
y is shifted a little bit, i.e., f (y + (y-x)^2) - f x) / (y - x) converges to the same limit.
This lemma contains a slightly more general version of this statement (where one considers
convergence along some subfilter, typically 𝓝[<] x or 𝓝[>] x) tailored to the application
to almost everywhere differentiability of monotone functions.
A Stieltjes function is almost everywhere differentiable, with derivative equal to the Radon-Nikodym derivative of the associated Stieltjes measure with respect to Lebesgue.
A monotone function is almost everywhere differentiable, with derivative equal to the Radon-Nikodym derivative of the associated Stieltjes measure with respect to Lebesgue.
A monotone real function is differentiable Lebesgue-almost everywhere.
A real function which is monotone on a set is differentiable Lebesgue-almost everywhere on
this set. This version does not assume that s is measurable. For a formulation with
volume.restrict s assuming that s is measurable, see MonotoneOn.ae_differentiableWithinAt.
A real function which is monotone on a set is differentiable Lebesgue-almost everywhere on
this set. This version assumes that s is measurable and uses volume.restrict s.
For a formulation without measurability assumption,
see MonotoneOn.ae_differentiableWithinAt_of_mem.