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FALSE: a nonnegative Riemann integrable function on with is identically zero
Statement
False claim: if is Riemann integrable (The lower and upper Darboux integrals of a bounded on as and , Darboux integrability as their equality, and the notation ) with for every and , then for every .
The claim is true under the additional hypothesis that is continuous, and that is the version worth remembering; without it the integral simply cannot see a function that is positive on a null set. Thomae's function on (The Dirichlet function , and Thomae's function with at a rational in lowest terms with and at every irrational ) is nonnegative, integrable, has integral , and is positive at every rational point of , of which there are infinitely many.
Facts & Assumptions
Given: Thomae's function restricted to , that is with at a rational with least denominator , and at an irrational (The Dirichlet function , and Thomae's function with at a rational in lowest terms with and at every irrational , The canonical natural of a field).
The false claim: a nonnegative Riemann integrable function on a closed bounded interval with distinct endpoints whose integral is vanishes identically.
with at a rational , and at an irrational ; hence everywhere and at every rational (The Dirichlet function , and Thomae's function with at a rational in lowest terms with and at every irrational , The canonical natural of a field, Canonical naturals are positive and strictly increasing).
Thomae's function on is continuous at every irrational and discontinuous at every rational (The Dirichlet function is continuous at no point of , and Thomae's function is continuous at every irrational and at no rational, so its set of continuity points is exactly the set of irrationals and its oscillation at equals ); a restriction of a function continuous at a point of the smaller domain is continuous there, the same serving a condition quantified over fewer points (Continuity of at a point of and on : the - condition, its agreement with at a limit point, and continuity at an isolated point).
is countably infinite, and every subset of an at most countable set is at most countable ( is countably infinite, Every subset of an at most countable set is at most countable, Finite, countably infinite, countable, uncountable).
A bounded function on with an at most countable set of discontinuities is Riemann integrable (A bounded function on whose set of discontinuities is at most countable is Riemann integrable, Lower bound, bounded below, bounded set).
The irrationals are dense in , so every nonempty open interval contains an irrational (Both and are dense in , and every nonempty open subset of is uncountable, The closure equals the set together with its limit points, equals the set of points every neighbourhood of which meets it, and is the smallest closed superset; a set is closed iff it contains its limit points, Interior, closure, boundary and exterior of a subset of , The -neighbourhood and the punctured -neighbourhood of a point of ).
with ; is the supremum of the lower sums, the infimum of the upper sums, and the integral is their common value when they agree (For bounded on and a partition : the infimum and supremum of on the -th subinterval, and the lower and upper Darboux sums and , The lower and upper Darboux integrals of a bounded on as and , Darboux integrability as their equality, and the notation ).
A set with a least element has it as its infimum; the supremum of is (Greatest lower bound (infimum), Maximum and minimum of a set, Complete ordered field (least-upper-bound property)).
Ordered-field arithmetic: the order is total and transitive; a reciprocal of a positive quantity is positive; (Order is preserved by adding a constant and by adding inequalities, Sign rules for products and monotonicity of multiplication, Ordered field, Complete ordered field (least-upper-bound property)). These order-arithmetic facts are stated by their sources for the strict order only; the nonstrict forms used below follow by adjoining the equality case, in which the two sides coincide.
Refutation
is nonnegative and bounded on , with for every , by [L1].
is continuous at every irrational point of by [L2], so its set of discontinuities in is contained in , which is at most countable by [L3]; every subset of it is then at most countable by [L3] as well.
Separately, and independently of everything below, does not vanish identically: is a rational point of , so by [L1] and [L10].
By [L4] applied to , with , the function is Riemann integrable on .
Every lower Darboux sum of is : let be a partition of and ; the open interval is nonempty by [L6] and contains an irrational by [L5], and , so by [L1]. Since by [L1], the value is the least element of and by [L8]. Hence by [L7] and [L9].
The set of lower sums is therefore , so by [L8], and since is integrable by step 2.1 its integral is by [L7].
So is a nonnegative Riemann integrable function on with that is not identically zero; [A1] fails at and the claim is false.
Remarks
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The correct statement, and the hypothesis that repairs it. If is continuous on , nonnegative and , then : a point with would, by continuity, force on a whole subinterval, and would then be at least times the length of that subinterval, by If on then for every partition ; in particular every constant function is integrable, with applied there. That argument is not carried out here, because the additivity of the integral over subintervals is not available at this point in the reading order; what is asserted by this item is only that the hypothesis of continuity cannot simply be dropped.
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The exceptional set is exactly the rationals. is positive precisely on , a countable dense set, which is null (Every at most countable subset of has measure zero). The integral is blind to a null set of positive values, and the Lebesgue criterion explains why: what governs integrability, and here the value, is the size of the set where the function misbehaves, measured by interval covers (Lebesgue's criterion for Riemann integrability: a bounded on is Riemann integrable if and only if its set of discontinuities has measure zero).
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Every upper sum, by contrast, is positive. Each subinterval contains a rational, so for every and for every partition ; the upper integral is nevertheless , since the infimum of a set of positive numbers may be . That is the one place where this example is worth pausing over, and it is the reason the lower sums, not the upper ones, are what step 2.2 computes.
Depends on
- The lower and upper Darboux integrals of a bounded $f$ on $[a,b]$ as $\sup_P L(f,P)$ and $\inf_P U(f,P)$, Darboux integrability as their equality, and the notation $\int_a^b f$
- For bounded $f$ on $[a,b]$ and a partition $P$: the infimum $m_i$ and supremum $M_i$ of $f$ on the $i$-th subinterval, and the lower and upper Darboux sums $L(f,P) = \sum_i m_i \Delta_i$ and $U(f,P) = \sum_i M_i \Delta_i$
- Partition of $[a,b]$ as a finite strictly increasing list $a = t_0 < t_1 < \dots < t_n = b$, its subintervals and their lengths, its mesh, refinement, and the common refinement of two partitions
- The Dirichlet function $1_{\mathbb{Q}}$, and Thomae's function $t$ with $t(x) = 1/q$ at a rational $x = p/q$ in lowest terms with $q \ge 1$ and $t(x) = 0$ at every irrational $x$
- The Dirichlet function is continuous at no point of $\mathbb{R}$, and Thomae's function is continuous at every irrational and at no rational, so its set of continuity points is exactly the set of irrationals and its oscillation at $c$ equals $t(c)$
- A bounded function on $[a,b]$ whose set of discontinuities is at most countable is Riemann integrable
- $\mathbb{Q}$ is countably infinite
- Every subset of an at most countable set is at most countable
- Finite, countably infinite, countable, uncountable
- Both $\mathbb{Q}$ and $\mathbb{R} \setminus \mathbb{Q}$ are dense in $\mathbb{R}$, and every nonempty open subset of $\mathbb{R}$ is uncountable
- The closure equals the set together with its limit points, equals the set of points every neighbourhood of which meets it, and is the smallest closed superset; a set is closed iff it contains its limit points
- Interior, closure, boundary and exterior of a subset of $\mathbb{R}$
- The $\varepsilon$-neighbourhood and the punctured $\varepsilon$-neighbourhood of a point of $\mathbb{R}$
- Continuity of $f : A \to \mathbb{R}$ at a point of $A$ and on $A$: the $\varepsilon$-$\delta$ condition, its agreement with $\lim_{x \to c} f(x) = f(c)$ at a limit point, and continuity at an isolated point
- Laws of finite sums and finite products
- Finite sums and finite products, by recursion
- Intervals of $\mathbb{R}$: the nine order-convex forms, nondegeneracy, and length
- Lower bound, bounded below, bounded set
- Greatest lower bound (infimum)
- Maximum and minimum of a set
- The canonical natural $\iota(n) = n \cdot 1_F$ of a field
- Canonical naturals are positive and strictly increasing
- Complete ordered field (least-upper-bound property)
- Ordered field
- Order is preserved by adding a constant and by adding inequalities
- Sign rules for products and monotonicity of multiplication
Used by
Dependency tree · next 3 levels
Direct dependencies and their dependencies through the next three levels: 160 results over 31 levels. An arrow runs from a result to what uses it, and this result sits at the bottom with a heavier outline. Click the chart to enlarge it.
Sources
- Thomae's function (Wikipedia) (standard reference, not scraped)
- Riemann integral (Wikipedia) (standard reference, not scraped)
- MAT 125B Discussion 3 (UC Davis) (standard reference, not scraped)