Strictly Increasing Function with Derivative

real-analysis

Let $f$ be a function which satisfies:

(I) $f$ is continuous $\forall x \geq 0$

(II) $f'(x)$ exists for $x>0$

(III)$f(0)=0$

(IV) $f'$ is a strictly increasing function

If $$g(x) =\frac {f(x)}{x}, x>0$$
Prove that $g(x)$ is a strictly increasing function.

I don't know if it's a good path to prove this, but my thought was making $g'(x)=\dfrac{f'(x)\cdot x – f(x)}{x^2}$ and showing that $g'(x) > 0, \forall x>0$, but I can't see or show that this is true.

Can anybody help me? Thanks.

Best Answer

By the Mean Value Theorem, for every $x$ there exists $\xi\in(0,x)$ such that $\frac{f(x)}{x}=f'(\xi)$. Since $f'$ is strictly increasing, $\frac{f(x)}{x}<f'(x)$, which implies that $g'>0$.

(If $f'$ is just increasing, not strictly, then $g'\geq 0$, so $g$ is just increasing, not strictly)

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