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How to find the non-differentiable point(s) of a given continuous function?


For example, the non-differentiable point of the function $f(x)=|x|$ is at $x=0$.
How to find the non-differentiable points of a continuous function that is defined numerically?



Answer




If we define f[x] e.g. like this:


f[x_] := Abs[x]

the following returns interesting points:


Reduce[ 
Limit[(f[x + h] - f[x])/h, h -> 0, Assumptions -> x ∈ Reals, Direction -> -1] !=
Limit[(f[x + h] - f[x])/h, h -> 0, Assumptions -> x ∈ Reals, Direction -> 1], x]


x == 0


Let's try another function defined with Piecewise, e.g.


g[x_] := Piecewise[{{x^2, x < 0}, {0, x == 0}, {x, 1 > x > 0}, 
{1, 2 >= x >= 1}, {Cos[x - 2] + x - 2, x > 2}}]

then we needn't use Assumptions in Limit:


Reduce[ Limit[ (g[x + h] - g[x])/h, h -> 0, Direction -> -1] != 
Limit[ (g[x + h] - g[x])/h, h -> 0, Direction -> 1], x]



 x == 0 || x == 1 || x == 2

pts = {x, g[x]} /. {ToRules[%]};

Plot[ g[x], {x, -5/4, 3}, PlotStyle -> Thick,
Epilog -> {Red, PointSize[0.023], Point[pts]}]

enter image description here


One should be careful when working with Piecewise since Reduce may produce errors when weak inequalities (LessEqual) are involved. For this reason we added {0, x == 0} in the definition of the function g.


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