TITLE: Mean Value Theorem Confusion.
QUESTION [9 upvotes]: In H. Cartan's Differential Calculus, Theorem 3.1.1 is called the Mean Value Theorem and is stated as:

Theorem: Let $f:[a,b]\to\mathbf R^n$ and $g:[a,b]\to\mathbf R$ be two functions which are continuous on $[a,b]$  and differentiable on $(a,b)$.
  Assume that $\|f'(x)\|\leq g'(x)$ for all $x\in(a,b)$.
  Then $\|f(b)-f(a)\|\leq g(b)-g(a)$.

On the other hand, the universally known (Lagrange's) Mean Value Theorem states that

Theorem: Let $f:[a,b]\to\mathbf R$ be a function which is continuous on $[a,b]$ and differentiable on $(a,b)$.
  Then there exists $c\in(a,b)$ such that $(f(b)-f(a))/(b-a)=f'(c)$.

Since they are both being called Mean Value Theorems, I think may be one follows easily from the other.
But I fail to see the connection.
Can somebody please shed some light on this.
Thanks.

REPLY [3 votes]: Cartan's mean value theorem follows from Lagrange's mean value theorem:
Let $f,g$ be as in the theorem and assume for now that $g'(x)>0$ for all $x$. Consider the real-valued function (here the dot denotes the standard dot product on $\mathbb R^n$, which induces the euclidian norm; $y\cdot z=\sum_n y_nz_n$)
\begin{align*}
h(x)&=(f(b)-f(a))\cdot \left[(f(x)-f(a))(g(b)-g(x))-(f(b)-f(x))(g(x)-g(a))\right].
\end{align*}
Lagrange's mean value theorem ensures the existence of $x\in(a,b)$ such that
$$
0=(f(b)-f(a))\cdot f'(x)(g(b)-g(a))-(f(b)-f(a))\cdot(f(b)-f(a))g'(x)).
$$
The Cauchy-Schwarz inequality now yields
$$
\|f(b)-f(a)\|g'(x)\leq (g(b)-g(a))\|f'(x)\|\leq(g(b)-g(a))g'(x),
$$
which finishes the argument, since we assumed $g'(x)>0$.
It remains to remove the assumption $g(x)>0$. Observe that $g'(x)\geq \|f'(x)\|\geq 0$. Consider then $\tilde g(x)=g(x)+\epsilon(x-a)$, which yields
$$
\|f(b)-f(a)\|\leq g(b)-g(a) + \epsilon (b-a).
$$
Now let $\epsilon\rightarrow 0$.