# Radially unbounded function

In mathematics, a radially unbounded function is a function ${\displaystyle f:\mathbb {R} ^{n}\rightarrow \mathbb {R} }$ for which

${\displaystyle \|x\|\to \infty \Rightarrow f(x)\to \infty .\,}$

Such functions are applied in control theory. Notice that the norm used in the definition can be any norm defined on ${\displaystyle \mathbb {R} ^{n}}$, and that the behavior of the function along the axes does not necessarily reveal that it is radially unbounded or not; i.e. to be radially unbounded the condition must be verified along any path that results in:

${\displaystyle \|x\|\to \infty \,}$

For example the functions

${\displaystyle \ f_{1}(x)=(x_{1}-x_{2})^{2}\,}$
${\displaystyle \ f_{2}(x)=(x_{1}^{2}+x_{2}^{2})/(1+x_{1}^{2}+x_{2}^{2})+(x_{1}-x_{2})^{2}\,}$

are not radially unbounded since along the line ${\displaystyle x_{1}=x_{2}}$, the condition is not verified even though the second function is globally positive definite.

## References

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