 Density of continuous functions in Lp on an interval

For a finite interval $(a,b)$ with Lebesgue measure, restrictions of continuous functions on $[a,b]$ form a dense subspace of the Lp space $L^p((a,b))$ for $1\le p<\infty$. One proof first approximates by simple functions. The regularity of Lebesgue measure approximates each of their measurable sets in measure by a finite union of intervals. An interval's indicator function is approximated by continuous functions taking values in $[0,1]$ and differing from that indicator function only in endpoint strips of total length tending to zero. Their Lp norm error is at most the $1/p$ power of that length. The triangle inequality completes the approximation of each simple function.