# Math Help - Prove it's not uniformly continous

1. ## Prove it's not uniformly continous

Examine the uniform continuity of f : $[0,\infty) \rightarrow$ R given by f(x) := $e^{-x}$ on $[0,\infty)$.

I know it's not uniformly continuous but how do I prove that?

2. Originally Posted by thaopanda
Examine the uniform continuity of f : $[0,\infty) \rightarrow$ R given by f(x) := $e^{-x}$ on $[0,\infty)$.

I know it's not uniformly continuous but how do I prove that?
Derivative of $e^{-x}$ is $-e^{-x}$, so $|f'(x)|\leq1$ on $[0,\infty)$. This means that it is uniformly continuous.

3. It is uniformly continous:

By the mean value theorem we have $\frac{ \vert f(x)-f(y) \vert }{ \vert x-y \vert } = \vert f'(c)\vert$ where $c\in [x,y]$. Taking the supremum over all $x,y\in [0, \infty )$ and noting that $\vert f'(x) \vert \leq 1$ we have that $\frac{ \vert f(x)-f(y) \vert }{ \vert x-y \vert } \leq 1$ for all $x\neq y$ and so $\vert f(x)-f(y) \vert \leq \vert x-y\vert$. Now taking $\delta < \epsilon$ in the definition of unif. cont. the result follows.

Actually you can prove that for a continously diff. function it's equivalent:

1) $f'$ is bounded
2) There exists $m>0$ such that $\vert f(x)-f(y)\vert \leq m\vert x-y\vert$