- WEAK SOLUTION FORMULATION 367
(the first derivative) such that
If (y) - f ( x) - D f ( x). (y - x) - ~ (y - x) T. D^2 f ( x). (y - x) I
= o (IY -x1^2 ) as y---+ x.
We also recall the following related notion (see p. 167 of [139] for ex-
ample).
DEFINITION 7.116 (Locally bounded variation). Let U be an open set
in Rn. A function f E Lfoc (U) has locally bounded variation if for every
open set U1 cc U,
sup {fu
1
f div¢ dx : ¢ E C~ (U1; Rn), 1¢1 :::; 1} < oo,
where the lower index c in C~ indicates having compact support. In this
case we write f E BVioc (U).
Clearly if f E C^1 (U), then f E BVioc (U) since
{ f div¢dx = - { 'Vf · ¢dx:::; meas(U1) · sup l'Vfl < oo
lu 1 lu1 suppefi
for all U1 CC U. On the other hand, as a partial converse, note that as
remarked on p. 166 at the beginning of Chapter 5 in [139], " ... a BV function
is 'measure theoretically C^1. '"
The following lemma is well known; see Theorem l(i) in §6.3 on p. 236
of [139] for the proof of (i), Aleksandrov's Theorem in §6.4 on p. 242 of
[139] for the proof of (ii), and Theorem 3 in §6.3 on pp. 240-241 of [139]
for the proof of (iii). Let B (r) c Rn denote the ball of radius r centered at
0.
LEMMA 7.117 (Regularity properties of convex functions). Let f: B (r)
---+ R be a convex function. Then
(i) f is locally Lipschitz,
(ii) (Aleksandrov's Theorem) f has second derivative D^2 f (x) for a.e.
x EB (r),
(iii) gfi has locally bounded variation for each i, and
D^2 f E Lfoc (B (r); Mnxn).
REMARK 7.118. Note that it follows easily from the convexity off that
D^2 f (x) ::'.'.: 0 when it exists.
We consider the approximation of continuous functions, in particular
convex functions, by smooth functions via the convolution with mollifiers.
A standard mollifier is T/ : Rn ---+ R defined by
T/ (x) ~ { ae^1 l(lxl
2
-^1 ) if lxl < 1,
0 if lxl ::'.'.: 1,