The geometric Mean Value Theorem

• André Pierro de Camargo ^[1]
  1. [1] Universidade Federal do ABC

     Universidade Federal do ABC

     Brasil

     
• Localización: International journal of mathematical education in science and technology, ISSN 0020-739X, Vol. 49, Nº. 4, 2018, págs. 613-615
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • In a previous article published in the American Mathematical Monthly, Tucker (Amer Math Monthly. 1997; 104(3): 231–240) made severe criticism on the Mean Value Theorem and, unfortunately, the majority of calculus textbooks also do not help to improve its reputation. The standard argument for proving it seems to be applying Rolle's theorem to a function likeAlthough short and effective, such reasoning is not intuitive. Perhaps for this reason, Tucker classified the Mean Value Theorem as a technical existence theorem used to prove intuitively obvious statements.Moreover, he argued that there is nothing obvious about the Mean Value Theorem without the continuity of the derivative.Under so unfair discrimination, we felt the need to come to the defense of this beautiful theorem in order to clear up these misunderstandings.