Illumination by Taylor polynomials

Let f(x) be a differentiable function on the real line ℝ, and let P be a point not on the graph of f(x). Define the illumination index of P to be the number of distinct tangents to the graph of f which pass through P. We prove that if f″ is continuous and nonnegative on ℝ, f″≥m>0 outside a closed...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Alan Horwitz
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2001-01-01
Series:International Journal of Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/S0161171201004173
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849409063305084928
author Alan Horwitz
author_facet Alan Horwitz
author_sort Alan Horwitz
collection DOAJ
description Let f(x) be a differentiable function on the real line ℝ, and let P be a point not on the graph of f(x). Define the illumination index of P to be the number of distinct tangents to the graph of f which pass through P. We prove that if f″ is continuous and nonnegative on ℝ, f″≥m>0 outside a closed interval of ℝ, and f″ has finitely many zeros on ℝ, then any point Pbelow the graph of f has illumination index 2. This result fails in general if f″ is not bounded away from 0 on ℝ. Also, if f″ has finitely many zeros and f″ is not nonnegative on ℝ, then some point below the graph has illumination index not equal to 2. Finally, we generalize our results to illumination by odd order Taylor polynomials.
format Article
id doaj-art-77092d0893f74b8798e0d9b92eea09df
institution Kabale University
issn 0161-1712
1687-0425
language English
publishDate 2001-01-01
publisher Wiley
record_format Article
series International Journal of Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences
spelling doaj-art-77092d0893f74b8798e0d9b92eea09df2025-08-20T03:35:37ZengWileyInternational Journal of Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences0161-17121687-04252001-01-0127212513010.1155/S0161171201004173Illumination by Taylor polynomialsAlan Horwitz0Penn State University, 25 Yearsley Mill Road, Media 19063, PA, USALet f(x) be a differentiable function on the real line ℝ, and let P be a point not on the graph of f(x). Define the illumination index of P to be the number of distinct tangents to the graph of f which pass through P. We prove that if f″ is continuous and nonnegative on ℝ, f″≥m>0 outside a closed interval of ℝ, and f″ has finitely many zeros on ℝ, then any point Pbelow the graph of f has illumination index 2. This result fails in general if f″ is not bounded away from 0 on ℝ. Also, if f″ has finitely many zeros and f″ is not nonnegative on ℝ, then some point below the graph has illumination index not equal to 2. Finally, we generalize our results to illumination by odd order Taylor polynomials.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/S0161171201004173
spellingShingle Alan Horwitz
Illumination by Taylor polynomials
International Journal of Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences
title Illumination by Taylor polynomials
title_full Illumination by Taylor polynomials
title_fullStr Illumination by Taylor polynomials
title_full_unstemmed Illumination by Taylor polynomials
title_short Illumination by Taylor polynomials
title_sort illumination by taylor polynomials
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/S0161171201004173
work_keys_str_mv AT alanhorwitz illuminationbytaylorpolynomials