Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2014/ia/paper-1/12f/a/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 ia Paper 1 12F a Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
For a bounded real function on , take a partition with nodes . Its lower Darboux sum and upper Darboux sum areThe function is Riemann integrable when ; their common value is its Riemann integral. Equivalently, for every some partition has . Indeed a common refinement of nearly extremizing upper and lower partitions proves necessity, while arbitrarily small gaps force equality of the two integrals. This is the Riemann integrability criterion.
A continuous function on a compact interval is bounded and uniformly continuous. Choose a mesh small enough that its oscillation on each subinterval is less than . Then ; using first makes the desired inequality strict. Thus every continuous function on is Riemann integrable.
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