A Topological Mean Value Theorem for the Plane

Author(s): Ira Rosenholtz

Source: The American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 98, No. 2 (Feb., 1991), pp. 149-154
Published by: Mathematical Association of America
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2323948
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A TopologicalMean Value TheoremforthePlane

IRA ROSENHOLTZ

Department
EasternIllinoisUniversity,
IL 61920
of Mathematics,
Charleston,

Cauchy'sGeneralizedMeanValueTheoremstatesthatifx and y arefunctions

thatare continuous
on [a, b] and differentiable
on (a, b), thenthereis a to in
(a, b) such that x'(to)[y(b) - y(a)] = y'(to)[x(b) - x(a)]. One geometricinterpretation of this is that if Q(t) = (x(t), y(t)) is a path in the plane, then, under
certainhypotheses,
at whichthevelocity
theremustbe an instant
vectoris parallel
to thevectorjoiningtheendpoints
ofthepath.Can thisconclusion
be improved?
In particular,
can we get a velocity
as the
vectorto pointin the samedirection
vectorfromthe firstendpointto the last and notjust be parallel?This is the
questionwe addressin thisnote. Surprisingly,
the answerturnsout to be a
consequenceof theJordanCurveTheorem!Thisresultprovidessomeadditional
insightinto such old standardsas the Mean Value Theoremand Cauchy's
Generalization,
l'Hopital'sRule, and Darboux'sTheorem,whiledemonstrating
and analysis.
further
interplay
betweentopology
Considerthe related question: Can one go northwithouteverheadingnorth?A
littlereflection
showsthattheanswerto thisquestionis Yes and,in fact,thiscan
travelup to theNorthPole on a
happenina variety
ofways.Firstofall,one might
globeby"spiraling
up" to it(see FIGURE la). (Of course,itis eveneasierto go east
is restricted
by headingwest,but that'sanotherstory.)Even if traveling
to the
plane,it can stillbe done. One wayis to stop(i.e., havezero velocity
vectorat
corner"(see FIGURE Ib).
someinstant).
Thenone'spathcan havea "differentiable
Andanotherwayto go northwithout
everheadingnorthis to head SOUTH! (See
As we shallsoon
FIGURE lc.) Noticethatin thisexamplethepathcrossesitself.
see, theseare theonlythingsthatcan go wrong.

t=
NorthPole

t=O

It/

y=t

FIG.

1(a)

FIG.

1(b)

149
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150

[February

IRA ROSENHOLTZ

t=2

-1

-2

t=
x = 4 -t
y = t3 - 3t
-2 < t S 2

FIG. 1(c)

Let us agree on the followingvocabulary:A path in the plane is a continuous

functionfl(t) = (x(t), y(t)) definedon some closed interval[a, b] of real numbers,where a < b. A path fl is differentiable
providedfQ(t) = (x'(t), y'(t)) exists
for a < t < b. (We do not assume that fl is continuouslydifferentiable.)A
differentiablepath is nonstop if fQ(t) s (0, 0) for all t such that a < t < b.
Finally,a path thatis one-to-oneis called an arc.
We provethe following:
TOPOLOGICAL MEAN VALUE THEOREM.
R2 is a differentiable,
If fl: [a, b]
nonstoparc in theplane, thenthereis a positivenumber, and a to in (a, b) such
thatfQ(to) = ,u[Q(b) - Q(a)]. That is, at some instantto, thevelocityvectorQ'(to)
pointsin thesame directionas the vectorfromfl(a) to fl(b), or, whatamountsto
thesame thing,fV(t0)/IIn'(t0)II= [Q(b) - Q(a)]/IIQ(b) - 0(a)II.

(Notice thatthisgeneralizesthe Mean Value Theorem: let fQ(t)= (t, f(t)) on

[a, b].)
Proof of the Theorem.First note that it sufficesto consider the special case
where Ql(b) is due northof fl(a) and both lie on the y-axis.(If Ql(b) is not due
north of fl(a), consider the auxiliary path ,B(t) = (0, 1)[fQ(t) - Q()]
[Qf(b) - fQ(a)], where all points in the plane are to be thoughtof as complex
nonstop
numbers,and all operationsare as such. Then /3 is also a differentiable
the
arc in the plane, and /3(b)= (0, 1) is due northof 83(a) = (0,0). Furthermore,
ut and to thatworkfor,8 also workfor f.) Let t1 in [a, b] be chosen so that fl(tl)
such point.(It is possiblethat t1 equals
lies on the y-axisand is the mostnortherly
b-a situationwe shall have to address-but certainlyt1 does not equal a.) There

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1991]

THE TEACHING

OF MATHEMATICS

151

are two possibilities:Case 1: There is an increasingsequence s, < s2 < ... such

thatlim sn = t1 and fl(sn) lies on the y-axisforall n; and Case 2: There is no such
sequence.
Case 1. We may assume in thiscase that t1 is less than b. (If not, choose a c
less than b so that Ql(c) is due northof fl(a), and choose a new t1 forthe path fl
restrictedto the interval[a, c]. Note thatwiththisnew choice of t1,we mightnow
at t1. Then f'(t1) = lim[Q(sn) -f(tl)]/
be in Case 2.) So fl is differentiable
But since fQs,) lies on the y-axisbelow fl(tl), and sn < t1, we may
(sn -tl).
conclude that f'(t1) is of the form (0, y'(t1)) with y'(t1) > 0. Finally, since
fV(t1)= (0, 0) byhypothesis,y'(t1) mustbe greaterthan0, and thus,at timet1,the
velocityvectoris pointingdue northas claimed.
Case 2. In thiscase, thereis a t2< t1 such that W(t2) lies on the y-axis(below
f(t1), of course) and fl(t) does not lie on the y-axisforall t between t2 and t1.
Then fort2 < t < t1,Q lies entirelyto the leftof the y-axisor entirelyto the right.
of
Withoutloss of generalityassume the former,and concentrateon the restriction
fl to the interval[t2, tl]. Since Ql is continuouson thisinterval,thereis a to such
that t2 < to < t1 and fl(to) has minimalx-coordinate.Then x'(to) = 0. Therefore,
since ff(to) * (0, 0), ff(to) pointsdue northor due south. If ff(to) pointsnorth,
that g'(to) pointssouth.
we are done. So assume,to arriveat a contradiction,
Now fW[t2,t1]) lies in the vertical strip {(x, y)lx(to) < x < 01. Furthermore,
close to
since ff(to) pointsdue south,thenforall t < to (resp., t > to) sufficiently
to0fl(t) lies above (resp.,below) the line y = y(to), and as close to verticalas you
please. But f([t2, to]) separates the verticalstrip,and in fact separates points
nearly due south of fl(to) from fl(t1). One easy way to see this is to extend
fW[t2,t0o)to a simpleclosed curveby goingdue west fromQ(to), then goingdue
northfarenoughto avoid the imageof Q, nextgoingdue east to get to the rightof
the y-axis,then proceedingsouth to the heightof f(t2), and finallydue west to
f(t2) (see FIGURE 2). Points of ?((to, t1]) almost due south of fQ(to)lie on the
outside of this simple closed curve and Q(tl) lies on the inside of this simple
closed curve. So by the JordanCurve Theorem, f((to0 tj1), whichlies inside the
strip,mustcrossthissimpleclosed curve,necessarilyat a pointof f'dt2, to)). This
contradictsthe hypothesisthat fl is an arc and, therefore,ff(to) pointsdue north,
L
as claimed,completingthe proof.

fl~~~(to

y=

Y(to)

x O

x =x(t0)
FIG. 2

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152

[February

IRA ROSENHOLTZ

We now deriveseveralcorollaries.
The firstis about simpleclosed paths in the plane. (Here it maybe convenient
simple closed path in the plane as a nondegenerate
to thinkof a differentiable
functionfromR to 0R2.)It saysroughlythatifyou traversea
periodicdifferentiable
nonstopfashion,thenyou musthave been
simpleclosed curvein a differentiable,
of thisis thatifa
facingin everydirectionat least once. An amusinginterpretation
nonstop closed path is one-to-one(i.e., simple), then the set of
differentiable,
tangentdirections(i.e., unittangentvectors)is onto the unitcircle.The reader is
invitedto compare this situationto closed paths that are eithernonsimple,not
at even a singlepoint.
nonstop,or nondifferentiable
COROLLARY
nonstopsimpleclosedpath in theplane
1. If 8 is a differentiable,
= u.
and u is anyunitvectorin theplane, thenthereis a to such that5'(to)/1186(to)II

The idea is to use the JordanCurve Theorem again. Take a pointin the inside
of the simpleclosed curveand constructthe line throughthispointparallel to u.
This line intersectsthe simpleclosed curvein (at least) two points A and B. Part
of the timeour path goes fromA to B, and partof the timeit goes fromB to A,
and it is now a simplematterto apply the Topological Mean Value Theorem to
obtain the result.
One of the prettyapplicationsof Rolle's Theorem is the IntermediateValue
on the closed
TheoremforDerivatives(Darboux's Theorem):If f is differentiable
f'(a)
f'(b).
and
We prove the
interval[a, b], then f' attainsall values between
followinganalogue:
2. (IntermediateValue Theoremfor DerivativeDirections).Suppose
COROLLARY
that
thatfl: [a, b] -- R2 is a differentiable,
nonstoparc in theplane. Supposefurther
at botha and b. Thenf'(t)/Ijl'(t)II takeson everyvalue
fl has a nonzeroderivative

arcsbetween
f'(a)/IIf1'(a)IIand f'(b)/IIO/(b)II.
on at leastoneof thetwocircular

theset of derivativedirections
formsa connectedsubsetof the unit
And, therefore,
circle.
or this
(Recall thatwe are not assumingthat fl is continuouslydifferentiable,
wouldn't be very surprising.Also notice that this corollaryimplies Darboux's
Theorem:let fl(t) = (t, f(t)) and use the factthat fl' neverpointsleft.)
Proof. Consider the set S = {(s, t)Ia < s < t < b}. Then S is connected,and

the functions h(s, t) = [fQ(t) - Q(s)]/[t

- s] and H(s, t)

h(s, t)/IIh(s,

t)IIare

continuouson S. Thereforethe image of H is a connected subset of the unit

circle. And since it contains points arbitrarilyclose to O'(a)/Ifl'(a)II and
f'(b)/IIf1'(b)II,it mustcontainone of the two arcs of the unitcirclebetweenthese
twopoints.Now let A denote thiscirculararc. If u belongsto A, thereis an (s, t)
in S so that H(s, t) = u, i.e., so that[fQ(t) - fl(s)]/II[fl(t) - fl(s)]II = u. We now
nonstoparc Q
applyour Topological Mean Value Theorem to the differentiable,
= u,
restrictedto the interval[s, t] to obtaina to in (s, t) such that fT(to)/IIl'(t0)II
the
proof.
completing
Notice thatwe reallydo not requirethe fullstrengthof the hypothesisthat fQ
be an arc. For example,thisresultcan easilybe generalizedto the cases in which
fl is "locally one-to-one"and "piecewise one-to-one."We leave it to the interested reader to findhis or her favoritegeneralization.

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1991]

THE TEACHING

153

OF MATHEMATICS

The statementof Corollary2 suggestsseveralnaturalquestions.Suppose fQis a

nonstoppath which also has nonzero derivativesat its endpoints.
differentiable,
Must theset of velocityvectorsbe a connectedsubsetof theplane? If not, mustthe
set of speedsbe a connectedsubsetof thereal line? Finally,musttheset of derivative
directionsbe a connectedsubset of the unit circle even if fQ is not piecewise
one-to-one?It turnsout that the answerto all threequestionsis "No." Here is a
"machine"*: Let ,3: [1/2, 1] -->[1/2, 1] x [-1/2, 1/2] be any
monster-making
path such that:
differentiable
continuously
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)

,3 is nonstop;
/3(1/2)= (1/2,0) and ,B(1) = (1, 0);
03'(1/2) =ff();
,B'(t) 0 (1, 0) forall t.

Roughlyspeaking,we extend ,B to a path fl on the interval[0, 1] whichlooks

like 83on [1/2, 1] stuckto two copies of ,3 of 1/4 the dimensionson the interval
[1/4,1/2] stuck to four copies of ,B of 1/16 the dimensionson the interval
[1/8, 1/4], and so on, withfQ(O)- (0,0) (see FIG. 3). The path fl has as itsvelocity
1/2-

1/81

- 1/2

FIG. 3

*For readerswho maybe interestedonlyin the answerto the firsttwo questions,simplerexamples

exist.For example,if p, q, and r are real numbers,the path givenby
Ql(t) = (pt + rt2cos(1/t), qt + rt2sin(1/t))

if0 < t < 1 and Q(O) = (0, 0)

has as its set of velocityvectorsa spiral about a circleof radius r centeredat (p, q), togetherwithits
center.However,our "machine" answersall three. In addition,the "machine" may be modifiedto
path whose set of velocityvectorsis the entireplane.
produce a differentiable

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154

WALTER

CARLIP

[February

vectorspreciselythe velocityvectorsof ,BtogetherwithDl'(0) = (1, 0). Finally,if f3

has length L, then fl has length2L, and if we parametrizeQ using arc length
then we obtain a path fl with Q%(O)= (0, 0), fio(2L) = (1, 0), and flo has unit
speed exceptat time0 at whichtimeits speed is 1/2L.
We concludewitha two-dimensional
versionof L'Hopital's Rule. (Perhaps this
is appropriateas L'H6pital's Rule seems to be one of the more popular applicationsof Cauchy's Generalized Mean Value Theorem.)
COROLLARY
3. SupposethatQ(t) = (x(t), y(t)) is a differentiable,
nonstoppath
definedon theclosed interval[a, b]. If fl is one-to-oneon some neighborhood
of a,
and limfl(t) = (,0 ) as t approachesa ', thenas t approachesa ', limQ(t)/llQ(t)ll
-

limf'(t)/j10'(t)01,
assuming
thelatterlimitexists.

One interpretation
of this is that if a particlestartsat the originin the plane,
then,under reasonable conditions,its "position directions"are closely approximated by its "velocitydirections."Anotherinterpretation,
whichis perhaps even
more intuitive,is thatif a particlehas constantmass and zero initialvelocity,then
(undersuitableconditions)itsunitvelocityvectorsnear the startare approximately
its unit accelerationvectors(i.e., its force directionvectors).In otherwords,if a
particleis at rest,thenthe directionit goes is prettymuch the directionyou push
it. I guess the only real surprisehere is thatwe are not even assumingthat the
forceis continuous.
The proofof this corollaryis identicalto the usual proofof L'Hopital's Rule
giventhe Generalized Mean Value Theorem and is omitted.

Disks and Shells Revisited

WALTER CARLIP

Department
ofMathematics,Ohio University,
Athens,OH 45701

It is a commonpracticein calculus coursesto use the definiteintegralto define

the area between the graph of a functionand the x-axis (see, e.g., [2, p. 252],
[3, p. 221], and [4, p. 238]). Soon after,the studentis taughttwo methods to
calculate volumes of solids of revolution-the disk method and the shell
method-usually withno mentionof how volumeis defined.Most calculusbooks
followthe introductionof disks and shells with several examples in which it is
shown that both methodsof calculatingthe volume yield the same answer.The
alert studentis sure to wonderwhetherthisis alwaysthe case.
The equivalence of the disk and shell methodswas provenin [1] usingintegrationbyparts.We presenthere a different
approach,one thatuses onlyelementary
ideas and illustratesan importantprooftechnique.
THEOREM.
Let f(x) be a continuous,invertible
functionon the interval[a, b],
wherea > 0. Suppose theregionboundedbyy = f(b), x = a, and thegraphoff(x)
is rotatedabout the y-axis. Then the values of the volumeof the resultingsolid

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