2

1.1 Power functions

Let us analyze a special class of functions, called power functions, and study their
main properties.

Functions f (x) = xn with n ∈ N.

• f (x) = xn ≡ x . . . x} .
| x {z
n times

• dom(f ) = R.

• f is continuous and differentiable ∀x ∈ R.

• f 0 (x) = n xn−1 is defined and continuous ∀x ∈ R.

• Figure 1.1 shows the graph of f for n even (left) and n odd, n 6= 1 (right).

Figure 1.1: Functions f (x) = xn with n ∈ N, n 6= 1. If n is even, f is even; if n is

odd, f is odd.

Functions f (x) = x−n with n ∈ N.

1 1 1 1
• f (x) = x−n = ≡ . . . , for x 6= 0.
xn x x
| {z } x
n times

• dom(f ) = R \ {0}.
1.1. POWER FUNCTIONS 3

• f is continuous and differentiable ∀x ∈ R \ {0}.

• f 0 (x) = −n x−n−1 is defined and continuous ∀x ∈ R \ {0}.

• Figure 1.2 shows the graph of f with n even (left) and n odd (right).

Figure 1.2: Functions f (x) = x−n with n ∈ N. If n is even, f is even; if n is odd, f

is odd.

Functions f (x) = xa with a ∈ R \ {0, ±1, ±2, . . .}.

This case is more subtle, since it is not obvious how to define f (x) = xa when, for
instance, a is an irrational number (if a is rational, namely a = α/β, with α, β ∈ Z,
β 6= 0, we may define f (x) = xa as the number whose power of order β is xα ; but
still there would be ‘pathologies’).

We can use the definition f (x) = xa ≡ e a ln(x) , for x > 0. Note that such definition
is consistent, as the natural logarithm is the inverse function of the exponential, but
requires x > 0. However, restricting x to positive values is common-sense, since in
many cases some standard properties of powers fail for xa with x < 0 (even if a is
rational). On the other hand, observe that
(
0 if a > 0 ,
lim+ f (x) = lim+ xa = lim+ e a ln(x) =
x→0 x→0 x→0 +∞ if a < 0 .

Hence, we may extend the previous definition to x = 0 when a > 0.

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Definition 1 Let a < 0. Then

f (x) = xa ≡ e a ln(x) , for x > 0 .

Let a > 0. Then

e a ln(x)
(
if x > 0 ,
a
f (x) = x ≡
0 if x = 0 .

Let us now analyze cases a < 0 and a > 0.

Case a < 0

• dom(f ) = (0, +∞).

• f is continuous and differentiable ∀x ∈ (0, +∞).

e a ln(x) e a ln(x)
• f 0 (x) = a = a ln(x) = a e (a−1) ln(x) = a xa−1 is defined and continuous
x e
∀x ∈ (0, +∞).

• Figure 1.3 shows the graph of f (x) = xa with a < 0.

Case a > 0

• dom(f ) = [0, +∞).

• f is continuous ∀x ∈ [0, +∞).

• If x > 0, f is differentiable and we can write f 0 (x) = a xa−1 , which is defined

and continuous by the previous calculation. If x = 0, we have

f (x) − f (0) e a ln(x) e a ln(x)

f 0 (0+ ) = lim+ = lim+ = lim+ ln(x)
x→0 x−0 x→0 x x→0 e
(
+∞ if 0 < a < 1 ,
= lim+ e (a−1) ln(x) =
x→0 0 if a > 1 .

In other words, f (x) = xa is differentiable at x = 0 from the right (with f 0

continuous at x = 0+ ) only when a > 1.
1.1. POWER FUNCTIONS 5

Figure 1.3: Functions f (x) = xa with a ∈ R \ {0, ±1, ±2, . . .}.

• Figure 1.3 shows the graph of f (x) = xa with 0 < a < 1 and a > 1. Look at
the different behavior of the function f close to x = 0 (from the right) in the
two cases.

Remarks.

• Thanks to Definition 1, the following standard properties of powers hold.

Given a, b ∈ R \ {0, ±1, ±2, . . .} and x > 0, we have

1
(i) xa x−a = 1 =⇒ x−a = ;
xa
(ii) xa xb = xa+b ;
(iii) (xa )b = xab .

• Case f (x) = xa with a = 1/(2k) , k ∈ N, is a special case in which 0 < a < 1.

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1
Noting that (x 2k )2k = x , for all x > 0, we have
1 √ 1
f (x) = x 2k = 2k
x =⇒ f 0 (x) = √
2k
.
2k x2k−1

1
Figure 1.4: Functions f (x) = x 2k+1 , with k ∈ N.

• Case f (x) = xa with a = 1/(2k + 1) , k ∈ N, is another special case in which

0 < a < 1. Here, it is convenient to slightly modify Definition 1 such that
these functions have domain equal to R. More precisely, we can define
 1


 e 2k+1 ln(x) if x > 0 ,
1

f (x) = x 2k+1 ≡ 0 if x = 0 ,

 1
−e 2k+1 ln(−x)

if x < 0 ,


1
which is continuous for all x ∈ R. In addition, we have (x 2k+1 )2k+1 = x , hence
1 √ 1
f (x) = x 2k+1 = 2k+1
x =⇒ f 0 (x) = 2k+1
√ ,
(2k + 1) x2k

with x 6= 0 . Observe that f is not differentiable at x = 0. Figure 1.4 shows

1
the graph of f (x) = x 2k+1 , for k ∈ N.