Calculus: Early Transcendentals 8th Edition

Published by Cengage Learning
ISBN 10: 1285741552
ISBN 13: 978-1-28574-155-0

Chapter 4 - Section 4.2 - The Mean Value Theorem - 4.2 Exercises - Page 292: 38

Answer

$f$ has at most one fixed point.

Work Step by Step

Let $g(x) = f(x) - x$ Then $g'(x) = f'(x)-1$ Note that for all $x$,$~~~g'(x) \neq 0~~$ since $~~f'(x) \neq 1$ If $f'(x)$ exists for all real numbers $x$, then $f(x)$ is continuous and differentiable for all $x$. Thus $g(x)$ is continuous and differentiable for all $x$. Let's assume that $f$ has at least two fixed points $a$ and $b$. $g(a) = f(a)-a = a-a= 0$ $g(b) = f(b)-b = b-b= 0$ According to Rolle's Theorem, there is a number $c$ in the interval $(a,b)$ such that $g'(c) = 0$. However, this contradicts the fact that $g'(x) \neq 0$ for all $x$ Therefore, $f$ has at most one fixed point.
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