Math 295 Fall Term 2006

Assignment 1

1. Show that v.p. x1 is a well-defined distribution. Recall that

Z
1 ϕ(x)
hv.p. , ϕi = lim dx
x ε→0 |x|≥ε x

for any test function ϕ ∈ D(R). Then prove that

1
u±
ε → ∓iπδ + v.p. as ε ↓ 0
x
for u± 1
ε (x) := x±iε , x ∈ R , in the sense of distributions.

2. Compute f 0 and f 00 for f (x) = log |x| , x ∈ R and f (x) = |x| , x ∈ R,

respectively, in the sense of distributions.

3. Let ρ : Rn 7→ R be an integrable function with

Z
supp(ρ) ⊂ B(0, 1) and ρ(x) dx = 1 .
Rn
Show that ρε → δ in D0 (Rn ) as ε → 0 for
1 x
ρε (x) := n ρ( ) , x ∈ Rn .
ε ε
4. Consider the function u defined as
1 y
u(x, y) = , (x, y) ∈ R × (0, ∞)
π x2 + y 2
Then u ∈ C∞ (R × (0, ∞)). Compute limy→0 u(·, y).

5. Given a continuous function f ∈ C(Ω) with supp(f ) ⊂⊂ Ω, show

that a sequence (ϕj )j∈N of testfunctions in D(Ω) can be found such
that
kϕj − f k∞ := sup |ϕj (x) − f (x)| −→ 0 as j → ∞ .
x∈Ω

Homework due by Friday, October 6 2006