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Let $f:\mathbb{R}\to\mathbb{R}$ be a continuous function and denote the part of the plane under the graph of $f$

$$\mathcal{G} = \{(x,y)\in\mathbb{R}^2 \space : \space y\leq f(x)\}$$ The collection of all closed balls inside $\mathcal{G}$ $$\mathcal{B} = \{B \space \space \text{is a closed ball, of positive radius, contained in} \space \mathcal{G} \}$$ And the union of all these closed balls $$A = \bigcup_{B\in\mathcal{B}}B$$

The question is: when is it that $A=\mathcal{G}$ ?


My thougts:

There shouldn't be 'upward cusps' in the graph of the function, since however close to the tip of the cusp and however small a ball ( contained in $\mathcal{G}$ ) you take, it will never contain the tip. Downward cusps are OK, but if we also consider the set $\{(x,y)\in\mathbb{R}^2 \space : \space y\geq f(x)\}$ (or also think about $-f$), these aren't allowed either. Maybe then the answer could be something like $f\in C^1$, but $f'$ can still be $\infty$ at some point.

Clearly $A\subset \mathcal{G}$ and on the other hand the interior points of $\mathcal{G}$ are contained in $A$. So it becomes a question of whether the points on the boundary of $\mathcal{G}$ (the graph of $f$) can be captured by a circle that is below the graph. This is related to the curvature of the curve $(x, f(x))$, right? So somehow second derivatives also appear to matter, but I think that $C^1$ (or even letting the derivative jump upwards if we don't make the requirement for the upper part also) should be enough and also there can be points where the derivative becomes infinity.

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    I don't think the first derivative is enough. Consider $f(x)=-|x|^{3/2}$. It's derivative is continuous $-(sign\ x)|x|^{1/2}$ but still $f$ has infinite curvature in the origin and because of that the closed circles of arbitrary small radia, containing the origin, fail to lie under the graph.2017-02-02
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    @Wolfram Yes, you're correct. I didn't come to think of infinite curvature. So, I guess the second derivative should be bounded (or some notion of second derivative if the function isn't that smooth).2017-02-02
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    I'd say that the first derivative should not go down too fast, no matter if there exists second derivative (for example, compare the cases $f(x)=|x|$ and $f(x)=-|x|$; casp cases are similar). The problem is, I can't even prove that $f$ is differentiable at almost all points, though it seems to be true for such function.2017-02-02

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