Convex Analysis – Composition of Convex and Power Function

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Let $g$ be a convex nonegative function, and $p\ge1$. To show: $f(x)=g(x)^p$ is convex.

Let $h(x)=x^p$. Then clearly $f=h \circ g$. Denote $\tilde{h}$ as the extended-value extension of $h$, which assigns the value $\infty(-\infty)$ to points not in the domain of $h$ for $h$ convex(concave). Then S. Boyd's convex optimization book tells us:

$f=h \circ g$ is convex if $h$ is convex, $\tilde{h}$ is nondecreasing, and $g$ is convex.

Here is my question: If we define the domain of $h$ as $\mathbb{R}^+$, then $h$ is convex. However, $\tilde{h}$ is not nondecreasing! (Its $\infty$ for $x<0$). So how can we apply the composition property above to prove the convexity of $g(x)^p$?

Best Answer

Since $g$ is non-negative (and $p\geq1$), consider instead the function $h$ defined on $\mathbb{R}$ by $$\forall x\in\mathbb{R},\ h(x)=\bigl(\max\{0,x\}\bigr)^p$$ With this $h$, we do have: $$\forall x\in\mathbb{R},\ g(x)^p=(h\circ g)(x),$$ $h$ is convex and we have $\widetilde{h}=h$ is non-decreasing.