Hadamard's lemma

In mathematics, Hadamard's lemma, named after Jacques Hadamard, is essentially a first-order form of Taylor's theorem, in which we can express a smooth, real-valued function exactly in a convenient manner.

Statement

Hadamard's lemma^[1] — Let ${\displaystyle f}$  be a smooth, real-valued function defined on an open, star-convex neighborhood ${\displaystyle U}$  of a point ${\displaystyle a}$  in ${\displaystyle n}$ -dimensional Euclidean space. Then ${\displaystyle f(x)}$  can be expressed, for all ${\displaystyle x\in U,}$  in the form:

$${\displaystyle f(x)=f(a)+\sum _{i=1}^{n}\left(x_{i}-a_{i}\right)g_{i}(x),}$$

 

where each ${\displaystyle g_{i}}$  is a smooth function on ${\displaystyle U,}$  ${\displaystyle a=\left(a_{1},\ldots ,a_{n}\right),}$  and ${\displaystyle x=\left(x_{1},\ldots ,x_{n}\right).}$ 

Proof

Proof

Let ${\displaystyle x\in U.}$  Define ${\displaystyle h:[0,1]\to \mathbb {R} }$  by

$${\displaystyle h(t)=f(a+t(x-a))\qquad {\text{ for all }}t\in [0,1].}$$

 

Then

$${\displaystyle h'(t)=\sum _{i=1}^{n}{\frac {\partial f}{\partial x_{i}}}(a+t(x-a))\left(x_{i}-a_{i}\right),}$$

 

which implies

$${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}h(1)-h(0)&=\int _{0}^{1}h'(t)\,dt\\&=\int _{0}^{1}\sum _{i=1}^{n}{\frac {\partial f}{\partial x_{i}}}(a+t(x-a))\left(x_{i}-a_{i}\right)\,dt\\&=\sum _{i=1}^{n}\left(x_{i}-a_{i}\right)\int _{0}^{1}{\frac {\partial f}{\partial x_{i}}}(a+t(x-a))\,dt.\end{aligned}}}$$

 

But additionally, ${\displaystyle h(1)-h(0)=f(x)-f(a),}$  so by letting

$${\displaystyle g_{i}(x)=\int _{0}^{1}{\frac {\partial f}{\partial x_{i}}}(a+t(x-a))\,dt,}$$

 

the theorem has been proven. ${\displaystyle \blacksquare }$ 

Consequences and applications

Corollary^[1] — If ${\displaystyle f:\mathbb {R} \to \mathbb {R} }$  is smooth and ${\displaystyle f(0)=0}$  then ${\displaystyle f(x)/x}$  is a smooth function on ${\displaystyle \mathbb {R} .}$  Explicitly, this conclusion means that the function ${\displaystyle \mathbb {R} \to \mathbb {R} }$  that sends ${\displaystyle x\in \mathbb {R} }$  to

$${\displaystyle {\begin{cases}f(x)/x&{\text{ if }}x\neq 0\\\lim _{t\to 0}f(t)/t&{\text{ if }}x=0\\\end{cases}}}$$

 

is a well-defined smooth function on ${\displaystyle \mathbb {R} .}$ 

Proof

By Hadamard's lemma, there exists some ${\displaystyle g\in C^{\infty }(\mathbb {R} )}$  such that ${\displaystyle f(x)=f(0)+xg(x)}$  so that ${\displaystyle f(0)=0}$  implies ${\displaystyle f(x)/x=g(x).}$  ${\displaystyle \blacksquare }$ 

Corollary^[1] — If ${\displaystyle y,z\in \mathbb {R} ^{n}}$  are distinct points and ${\displaystyle f:\mathbb {R} ^{n}\to \mathbb {R} }$  is a smooth function that satisfies ${\displaystyle f(z)=0=f(y)}$  then there exist smooth functions ${\displaystyle g_{i},h_{i}\in C^{\infty }\left(\mathbb {R} ^{n}\right)}$  (${\displaystyle i=1,\ldots ,3n-2}$ ) satisfying ${\displaystyle g_{i}(z)=0=h_{i}(y)}$  for every ${\displaystyle i}$  such that

$${\displaystyle f=\sum _{i}^{}g_{i}h_{i}.}$$

 

Proof

By applying an invertible affine linear change in coordinates, it may be assumed without loss of generality that ${\displaystyle z=(0,\ldots ,0)}$  and ${\displaystyle y=(0,\ldots ,0,1).}$  By Hadamard's lemma, there exist ${\displaystyle g_{1},\ldots ,g_{n}\in C^{\infty }\left(\mathbb {R} ^{n}\right)}$  such that ${\displaystyle f(x)=\sum _{i=1}^{n}x_{i}g_{i}(x).}$  For every ${\displaystyle i=1,\ldots ,n,}$  let ${\displaystyle \alpha _{i}:=g_{i}(y)}$  where ${\displaystyle 0=f(y)=\sum _{i=1}^{n}y_{i}g_{i}(y)=g_{n}(y)}$  implies ${\displaystyle \alpha _{n}=0.}$  Then for any ${\displaystyle x=\left(x_{1},\ldots ,x_{n}\right)\in \mathbb {R} ^{n},}$ 

$${\displaystyle {\begin{alignedat}{8}f(x)&=\sum _{i=1}^{n}x_{i}g_{i}(x)&&\\&=\sum _{i=1}^{n}\left[x_{i}\left(g_{i}(x)-\alpha _{i}\right)\right]+\sum _{i=1}^{n-1}\left[x_{i}\alpha _{i}\right]&&\quad {\text{ using }}g_{i}(x)=\left(g_{i}(x)-\alpha _{i}\right)+\alpha _{i}{\text{ and }}\alpha _{n}=0\\&=\left[\sum _{i=1}^{n}x_{i}\left(g_{i}(x)-\alpha _{i}\right)\right]+\left[\sum _{i=1}^{n-1}x_{i}x_{n}\alpha _{i}\right]+\left[\sum _{i=1}^{n-1}x_{i}\left(1-x_{n}\right)\alpha _{i}\right]&&\quad {\text{ using }}x_{i}=x_{n}x_{i}+x_{i}\left(1-x_{n}\right).\\\end{alignedat}}}$$

 

Each of the ${\displaystyle 3n-2}$  terms above has the desired properties. ${\displaystyle \blacksquare }$ 

See also

• Bump function – Smooth and compactly supported function
• Continuously differentiable – Mathematical function whose derivative existsPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
• Smoothness – Number of derivatives of a function (mathematics)
• Taylor's theorem – Approximation of a function by a truncated power series

Citations

1. Nestruev 2020, pp. 17–18.

References

• Nestruev, Jet (2002). Smooth manifolds and observables. Berlin: Springer. ISBN 0-387-95543-7.
• Nestruev, Jet (10 September 2020). Smooth Manifolds and Observables. Graduate Texts in Mathematics. Vol. 220. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature. ISBN 978-3-030-45649-8. OCLC 1195920718.