[Math] Finding an infinitely differentiable function on $\mathbb{R}$ with a taylor series that only converges to $f(x)$ for $x\leq 0$

convergence-divergencepower seriesreal-analysistaylor expansion

I am having trouble with this question because to my knowledge there is no taylor series that converges for $x\leq 0 $ because the interval of convergence of a power series is (c-R,c+R) for some c. So therefore there can not be a taylor series that converges to $f(x)$ for $x\leq 0$. The problem that I am having with this is that I am unsure if my reasoning is correct and if that is enough to explain why no such function with this taylor series exists. Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated. Cheers

Best Answer

Consider :

$$f:\mathbb{R}\to\mathbb{R},x\mapsto\cases{0\qquad\textrm{if }x\le0\cr\exp\left(-\frac1x\right)\quad\textrm{otherwise}}$$

Its Taylor series (at $0$) is the null series.


Proof sketch ...

There exists a sequence $(P_n)_{n\ge0}$ of polynomials such that :

$$\forall n\in\mathbb{N},\,\forall x>0,\,f^{(n)}(x)=P_n\left(\frac1x\right)\exp\left(-\frac1x\right)$$

This can be used to show that :

$$\forall n\in\mathbb{N},\,\lim_{x\to0^+}f^{(n)}(x)=0$$

And now, a last induction will show that, for all $n\ge 0$, $f^{(n)}$ has a right-derivative at $x=0$, which is zero.

Finally (since left derivatives at zero are obviously all zero), this proves that $\forall n\in\mathbb{N},\,f^{(n)}(0)=0$ which in turn shows the claim.