On almost monotonic real functions (Q1079604)

Let \(F\) be the algebra of real-valued functions defined on the set of real numbers, except perhaps on a finite set. A function in \(F\) is said to be almost monotonic if the inverse image of any interval is either empty or a finite number of intervals. Let \(f\) be an almost monotonic continuous function in \(F\) and \(I\) be a largest interval on which \(f\) is monotonic. The pseudo-inverse of \(f\) in \(I\) is by definition the inverse of the continuous function which is equal to \(f\) on \(I\) and linear in each connected component of the complement of \(I\). The main theorem: Let \(E\) be the smallest subalgebra of \(F\) containing the functions \(1, t\), \(\exp(t)\), \(\log | t|\), \(\tan^{-1} t\) and closed under pointwise addition, multiplication, composition and the pseudo-inverse operation. Then any function in \(E\) is almost monotonic. Note that \(E\) can be naturally regarded as a differential algebra. Thus, studying the differential ring structure of the object concerned, the author presents the proof purely algebraically.