Thursday, October 9, 2014

Find all functions f having the indicated property: All tangents to the graph of f pass through the origin

Equation of a tangent line to the graph of function f at point (x_0,y_0) is given by y=f(x_0)+f'(x_0)(x-x_0).
Since every tangent passes through the origin (0,0) we have
0=f(x_0)+f'(x_0)(0-x_0)
x_0f'(x_0)=f(x_0)
Let us write the equation using usual notation for differential equations.
x (dy)/(dx)=y
Now we separate the variables.
(dy)/y=dx/x
Integrating the equation, we get
ln y=ln x+ln c
c is just some constant so ln c is also some constant. It is only more convenient to write it this way.
Taking antilogarithm gives us the final result.
y=cx
There fore, our functions f have form f(x)=cx where c in RR. 
Graphically speaking these are all the lines that pass through the origin. Since the tangent to a line at any point is the line itself the required property is fulfilled.
Graph of several such functions f can be seen in the picture below.                                                                            
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_variables

No comments:

Post a Comment

Summarize the major research findings of "Toward an experimental ecology of human development."

Based on findings of prior research, the author, Bronfenbrenner proposes that methods for natural observation research have been applied in ...