TITLE: Hölder- continuous function
QUESTION [7 upvotes]: $f:I \rightarrow \mathbb R$ is said to be Hölder continuous if $\exists \alpha>0$ such that $|f(x)-f(y)| \leq M|x-y|^\alpha$, $ \forall x,y \in I$, $0<\alpha\leq1$. Prove that $f$ Hölder continuous $\Rightarrow$ $f$ uniformly continuous and if $\alpha>1$, then f is constant.
In order to prove that $f$ Hölder continuous $\Rightarrow$ $f$ uniformly continuous, it is enough to note that $|f(x)-f(y)| \leq M |x-y|^\alpha \leq M|x-y|$, since $\alpha \leq 1$. This implies that f is Lipschitz $\Rightarrow$ f is uniformly continuous.
But how can I prove that if $\alpha >1$, then $f$ is constant?

REPLY [8 votes]: Hint: 
For some $\epsilon>0$ and all $x\ne y$, you have $\Bigl|{f(x)-f(y)\over x-y}\Bigr|\le M|x-y|^\epsilon$ for some $\epsilon>0$. 
Why must $f'(x)$ exist? What is the value of $f'(x)$?