Theorem 1.22
Let f(x) be a differentiable function on a convex domain. f (x) is strictly concave, if and only if the
graph y = f(x) lies below all of its tangent lines (except at the point on tangency).
The proofs of these results are somewhat technical. We will provide them after we have discussed
applications.
1.2.6
Concavity Conditions for a Maximizer
Our main use of concavity (for now) is to produce sufficient conditions for maximizers. The following
corollary follows from Lemma 1.21.
Corollary 1.23
If f(x) is a strictly concave function and f
(x
) = 0, then x
is the unique global maximizer of f.
Proof
The assumption that f
(x
) = 0 tells us that f is differentiable at x
, and the tangent line at x
is
horizontal. By Lemma 1.21, the rest of the graph lies below this line. We conclude that x
is the unique
global maximizer.
y = f(x)
(x
, f(x
))
x
y
Figure 1.20: The graph of y = f (x), which lies below the tangent line at x
.
Like in the global second-order condition, we can also argue that x
is the only critical point. If
there were another, then it would also be the unique global maximizer, which is nonsense.
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