1|Page

MATHEMATICS
ProjECT
GROUP 13
ConTInuouS buT nowHErE dIffErEnTIAblE
funCTIon
Submitted To: Prof. Manjil Saikia

Submitted By: Praveen Kumar, 220102059, Section D, Branch ECE.

Sahil Kumar, 220102060, Section D, Branch ECE.
Sawan Kumar, 220102061, Section D, Branch ECE.

INTRODUCTION: A continuous but nowhere differentiable function is a function is a

function that is continuous but has no derivatives at any point within its domain. This means
that the function is smooth but can’t be described by a tangent line at any point. A famous
example is Weierstrass function. It highlights the limitations of traditional mathematical tools
and is used in the study of mathematical analysis and fractals.

Weierstrass’ nowhere differentiable function. At this point, we consider a

particular function that was first presented by Weierstrass in 1872. We prove that this function
is continuous on the real numbers but is not differentiable at any point.

Theorem. Let b be a real number such that 0 < b < 1 and let a be a positive odd integer.
If ab > 1 and , then

is continuous on R and is not differentiable at any point in R.

Proof. Throughout the proof of this theorem, we fix a and b, if the values satisfy the given
conditions. Within figures 2 and 3, we let a = 13 and .

SOURCE USED: https://www.whitman.edu/documents/Academics/Mathematics/2019/Vesneske-Gordon.pdf

Link of Book: https://wp.ufpel.edu.br/zahn/files/2019/07/Steen-Pedersen-From-Calculus-to-Analysis-Springer-2015.pdf
2|Page

Figure 1. Plots of the partial sums of the Weierstrass function for n = 1,2,3

Figure 2. A closer look at the development of W(x) for n = 3 and n = 4.

First, we consider the continuity of the function. Note that |bn cos(anxπ) | ≤ bn for all real
values of x. Given that our conditions require that b < 1, we know that ∑ b is convergent.

geometric series. Thus, by the Weierstrass M-test, the function W is continuous on R. From this,
we can see that the claim of continuity for our function W is not the difficult part of our proof.

Now, we focus on the proof that W is not differentiable at any point in R.

Remark. If, then {WN} converges uniformly to W. Each WN

can be differentiated an infinite number of times, but we claim that W does not have a
derivative at any point.

Fix a value x0. For each m ∈ N, let βm be the integer which satisfies the conditions
. We can restate this in two inequalities, so that
and . Let us call Given that a > 1, we can see that limm→∞ αm =
x0.
Now, if we were to suppose that W was differentiable at the point x0, then.

.
To form a contradiction, will show that in fact.

,
SOURCE USED: https://www.whitman.edu/documents/Academics/Mathematics/2019/Vesneske-Gordon.pdf
Link of Book: https://wp.ufpel.edu.br/zahn/files/2019/07/Steen-Pedersen-From-Calculus-to-Analysis-Springer-2015.pdf
3|Page

and therefore, that W 0(x0) does not exist.

To begin, express

We show below that:

and (ii) .
From this, it follows that:

Given that ab > 1 and , we can see that:

and thus

Therefore, the proof will be complete upon verification of (i) and (ii).

i. To begin, we note that:

=∑ (−1)βmanbnπ(−sin(cn,m))
SOURCE USED: https://www.whitman.edu/documents/Academics/Mathematics/2019/Vesneske-Gordon.pdf
Link of Book: https://wp.ufpel.edu.br/zahn/files/2019/07/Steen-Pedersen-From-Calculus-to-Analysis-Springer-2015.pdf
4|Page

for some cn,m ∈ [a,b] guaranteed by the Mean Value Theorem. Taking the absolute
value, we find

Thus, we can see that item (i) holds.

ii. For all terms in Bm, by definition n ≥ m. For these

terms,

Given that a is an odd integer, cos(an−mβmπ) = −1 when βm is odd, and cos(an−mβmπ) = 1 when βm
is even. Thus,

(−1) βm cos(an−mβmπ) = (−1)βm(−1)βm = 1.

It then follows that:

Using these two identities, we can establish that:

SOURCE USED: https://www.whitman.edu/documents/Academics/Mathematics/2019/Vesneske-Gordon.pdf

Link of Book: https://wp.ufpel.edu.br/zahn/files/2019/07/Steen-Pedersen-From-Calculus-to-Analysis-Springer-2015.pdf
5|Page

Recall that βm was chosen to satisfy . This means that cos((amx0 − βm)π) ≤ 0
and . Thus,

.
This verifies part (ii).

Now, given that we have verified parts (i) and (ii), we have completed the proof and have
shown that

.
This means that W 0(x0) does not exist, and thus W(x) is not differentiable at any point on R.
Additionally, we have shown that W(x) has unbounded difference quotients on R.

CONTRIBUTION: Praveen Kumar (From Page 1 to 3 before i part), Sahil Kumar( i part from
page 3 to 4), Sawan Kumar (ii part from page 4 to 5)

REFERENCES:

Steen Pedersen, From Calculus to Analysis, chapter 11 (11.4 Weierstrass Nowhere

Differentiable Function), pages 237–240. Springer International Publishing, 2015.

SOURCE USED: https://www.whitman.edu/documents/Academics/Mathematics/2019/Vesneske-Gordon.pdf

Link of Book: https://wp.ufpel.edu.br/zahn/files/2019/07/Steen-Pedersen-From-Calculus-to-Analysis-Springer-2015.pdf