Codex @codex  0

Let $f$ be bounded on $[a,b]$ and continuous on $(a,b]$. For any positive error tolerance, isolate $[a,a+\delta ]$. Its contribution to the difference of upper Darboux sums and lower Darboux sums is at most $2\Vert f{\Vert }_{\infty }\delta$. On $[a+\delta ,b]$, uniform continuity supplies a partition of an interval with arbitrarily small remaining oscillation sum. The Riemann integrability criterion then proves integrability, even when the values oscillate without a limit at the endpoint.

For a bounded real function, its oscillation on an interval is its full range width there. An upper Darboux sum minus a lower Darboux sum is the sum of these widths multiplied by their interval lengths. This gives the Riemann integrability criterion in terms of oscillation.

For a bounded function on a nondegenerate compact interval $[a,b]$, a partition $P$ has Darboux sumsThe Riemann integrability criterion isEquivalently the supremum of lower sums and infimum of upper sums agree; their common value is the Riemann integral. A bounded nonintegrable example is the Dirichlet function $\boxed{f=1_{\mathbb{Q}}}$. Every positive-length interval contains rational and irrational points, so every lower sum is zero and every upper sum is $b-a>0$.

For a bounded function on an interval $I$, write ${\omega }_I(f)={\sup }_{I}f-{\inf }_{I}f$ for its oscillation of a function on an interval. For a partition $P$, the difference between its upper Darboux sum and lower Darboux sum is ${\sum }_{I\in P}|I|{\omega }_I(f)$. The Riemann integrability criterion says that this can be made arbitrarily small.

Since ${\omega }_I(f_1+f_2)\le {\omega }_I(f_1)+{\omega }_I(f_2)$, choose good partitions for the two functions and take their common refinement. Darboux sum refinement monotonicity makes both oscillation sums small on this refinement, so their sum is Riemann integrable. The same argument handles differences and scalar multiples.

Both $t\mapsto \max (t,0)$ and $t\mapsto |t|$ are Lipschitz continuous with constant one. Thus ${\omega }_I(f^{+})\le {\omega }_I(f)$ and ${\omega }_I(|f|)\le {\omega }_I(f)$. This calculation shows that Lipschitz composition preserves Riemann integrability, so the positive part and the absolute value are integrable.

The converse for the absolute value is false. Define $f=1$ on rational numbers and $f=-1$ on irrational numbers. Then $|f|=1$ is integrable, but every interval has supremum one and infimum minus one, so every Darboux difference for $f$ is $2(b-a)$. Hence $f$ is not Riemann integrable.

Finally,is integrable by the closure properties just proved. This establishes that Riemann integrability is closed under addition and maximum.

A countable supremum can fail, even for a uniformly bounded family. Enumerate the rational points of $[a,b]$ as $q_1,q_2,\dots$ and set $f_n=1_{\{q_n\}}$. Each singleton indicator function is Riemann integrable with integral zero: isolate its single nonzero point in intervals of arbitrarily small total length. Butis the nonintegrable Dirichlet function. This proves that a pointwise supremum need not preserve Riemann integrability.

For a bounded function, a partition of an interval is $P:0=x_0<x_1<\cdots <x_N=1$. Put $m_j={\inf }_{[x_{j-1},x_j]}f$ and $M_j={\sup }_{[x_{j-1},x_j]}f$. Its lower Darboux sum and upper Darboux sum areThe lower Darboux integral is ${\sup }_{P}L(f,P)$ and the upper Darboux integral is ${\inf }_{P}U(f,P)$. Riemann integrability means that these two real numbers coincide, and their common value is the Riemann integral.

Equivalently, the Riemann integrability criterion says that for every $\epsilon >0$ some partition satisfies $U(f,P)-L(f,P)<\epsilon$. To see equivalence, all lower sums are at most all upper sums: refine any two partitions to their common refinement and use Darboux sum refinement monotonicity. Thus a small gap forces the difference of the two integrals below $\epsilon$. Conversely, if both integrals equal $I$, choose a lower sum above $I-\epsilon /2$ and an upper sum below $I+\epsilon /2$; their common refinement has gap below $\epsilon$.

This also agrees with the tagged Riemann sum definition: there is $I$ such that every tagged sum on a partition of sufficiently small mesh is within any prescribed tolerance of $I$. Each tagged sum lies between the two Darboux sums. From a partition with small gap, an arbitrary small-mesh partition differs from its refinement at only the cells crossing the finitely many original division points; boundedness makes their total contribution tend to zero. Conversely, on a fine partition tags approximating each cell supremum or infimum force both Darboux sums close to the same tagged-sum limit.

Now suppose $f$ is continuous on $[0,1]$. It is bounded by the result of Question 11. It is also uniformly continuous: otherwise there are $x_n,y_n\in [0,1]$ with $|x_n-y_n|\to 0$ but $|f(x_n)-f(y_n)|\ge {\epsilon }_0>0$. The Bolzano-Weierstrass theorem gives a convergent subsequence of $x_n$; the corresponding $y_n$ have the same limit, contradicting continuity. Given $\epsilon >0$, this uniform continuity gives $\delta >0$ such that points less than $\delta$ apart have function values less than $\epsilon /2$ apart. A partition of mesh below $\delta$ then satisfiesHence every continuous function on the interval is Riemann integrable, with the required proof supplied by its oscillation estimates.

A Riemann integrable function on a closed interval is bounded and has equal upper and lower Darboux integrals. More explicitly, for a partition of an interval $P:a=x_0<x_1<\cdots <x_m=b$, define the Darboux sumsThen Riemann integrability meansand this common value is the Riemann integral. Equivalently, the Riemann integrability criterion requires that for every $\epsilon >0$ some partition of an interval satisfies $U(f,P)-L(f,P)<\epsilon$. Indeed, the common partition refinement of two partitions increases each lower Darboux sum and decreases each upper Darboux sum, so equality of the two extremal values is equivalent to arbitrarily small gaps.

Let $|f|\le M$. If $M=0$ the result is immediate, so take $M>0$. Given $\epsilon >0$, choose $0<\delta <\epsilon /(4M)$ and the finitely many intervals supplied by the hypothesis. On each $[a_i,b_i]$, choose a partition of an interval whose Darboux sum gap is less than $\epsilon /(2n)$, using Riemann integrability there.

Combine all these partitions with $0,1$ and all interval endpoints to obtain a global partition of an interval $P$. On the chosen intervals the gaps add to less than $\epsilon /2$. The complementary intervals have total lengthand on each the difference between the supremum and infimum is at most $2M$. ConsequentlyThe Riemann integrability criterion proves $f$ is Riemann integrable on $[0,1]$. Shared endpoints cause no problem: the Darboux sums use closed intervals, and the complementary interval estimate includes every endpoint value. This proves Riemann integrability from almost full interval coverage.

For a bounded real function on $[a,\infty )$, convergence of its improper integral means that its restriction to every $[a,b]$, $b>a$, is Riemann integrable and that the finite limitexists. Boundedness by itself does not guarantee either local Riemann integrability or existence of this limit.

A monotone function on $[a,b]$ is bounded between its endpoint values. Divide the interval into $m$ equal pieces with endpoints $x_j=a+j(b-a)/m$. If $f$ is nondecreasing, its upper and lower Darboux sums differ byFor nonincreasing $f$, the same calculation with reversed endpoint values gives $(b-a)(f(a)-f(b))/m$. Thus in either case $U-L=(b-a)|f(b)-f(a)|/m\to 0$. For every $\epsilon >0$ one can choose $m$ to make this gap smaller than $\epsilon$; the Riemann integrability criterion proves that $f$ is Riemann integrable.

Now let $f$ be decreasing on $[1,\infty )$ with limit zero. For each $x$, $f(x)\ge {\lim }_{y\to \infty }f(y)=0$. On $[n,n+1]$ its monotonicity givesSumming these bounds, with $S_N={\sum }_{n=1}^{N}f(n)$, yieldsBoth the partial sums $S_N$ and the truncated integrals are nondecreasing because $f\ge 0$. The inequalities show that one family is bounded above if and only if the other is. The bounded monotone sequence theorem then gives convergence of the sums exactly when the integer-endpoint integrals converge. For real $b$ between $N$ and $N+1$, the integral to $b$ lies between the integrals to these integer endpoints; the squeeze theorem supplies the same limit. If either family is unbounded, both tend to $+\infty$. This proves the integral test for convergence in the required form.

For $\alpha <0$, use $f(x)=x^{\alpha }$, which is decreasing and tends to zero. Its truncated improper integral isThis has a finite limit exactly when $\alpha <-1$. If $\alpha \ge 0$, the terms $n^{\alpha }$ do not tend to zero, so the term test for divergence applies. Thus the full p-series criterion isFor every $\alpha \ge -1$ its nonnegative partial sums tend to $+\infty$.

For a bounded real function on $[0,1]$, take a partition $P$ with nodes $0=x_0<\cdots <x_N=1$. Its lower Darboux sum and upper Darboux sum areThe function is Riemann integrable when ${\sup }_{P}L(f,P)={\inf }_{P}U(f,P)$; their common value is its Riemann integral. Equivalently, for every $\eta >0$ some partition has $U-L<\eta$. 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 $\eta$. Then $U-L\le \eta {\sum }_j(x_j-x_{j-1})=\eta$; using $\eta /2$ first makes the desired inequality strict. Thus every continuous function on $[0,1]$ is Riemann integrable.

For a partition $P$, write $U(f,P)$ and $L(f,P)$ for the upper Darboux sum and lower Darboux sum. The Riemann integrability criterion for bounded $f$ is that for every $\epsilon >0$ some partition satisfies $U(f,P)-L(f,P)<\epsilon$. Thus if the gaps for $D_n$ tend to zero, the Riemann integrability criterion immediately proves that $f$ is Riemann integrable.

Conversely, suppose $f$ is Riemann integrable, and choose a fixed partition $P$ with $U(f,P)-L(f,P)<\epsilon /2$. Let $r$ be the number of its interior division points and choose $M\ge 1$ with $|f|\le M$. Call a cell of $D_n$ bad when its interior contains a division point of $P$. There are at most $r$ bad cells, and their total length is at most $r/n$.

Every other cell lies in a single cell of $P$, so its oscillation is no larger than that of the containing cell. Summing the contributions of these good cells gives at most $U(f,P)-L(f,P)$, while each bad cell has oscillation at most $2M$. Therefore the finite bad-cell estimate for Darboux sums givesFor large enough $n$, the right-hand side is less than $\epsilon$. This proves the uniform-mesh Darboux criterionThis argument does not assume that the partitions $D_n$ are nested; in general they are not.

For the composition, $f$ takes values in $[-M,M]$. Since $g$ is continuously differentiable, the extreme value theorem bounds both $|g|$ and $|g^{\prime }|$ on that interval. In particular, let $K={\sup }_{[-M,M]}|g^{\prime }|<\infty$. The mean value theorem states that a function continuous on the interval between $s,t$ and differentiable in its interior satisfies $g(s)-g(t)=g^{\prime }(\xi )(s-t)$ for some intermediate $\xi$. HenceOn each partition cell, this bounds the oscillation of $g\circ f$ by $K$ times the oscillation of $f$, whether or not the local extrema are attained. It follows thatThe composition is bounded, so the proved uniform-mesh Darboux criterion applies. Thus $g\circ f$ is Riemann integrable. The reusable fact is Lipschitz composition preserves Riemann integrability; continuous differentiability supplies the required bound on the range of $f$.

Let $L$ be the supremum of all lower Darboux sums and $U$ the infimum of all upper Darboux sums. The assumed comparison of arbitrary lower and upper sums gives $L\le U$. For the partition supplied for a given $\epsilon$,Since this holds for every positive $\epsilon$, $U=L$. Thus the Riemann integrability criterion gives

If $f$ is continuous on $[a,b]$, the Heine-Cantor theorem makes it uniformly continuous. Given $\epsilon >0$, choose $\delta$ so that intervals of length below $\delta$ have oscillation below $\epsilon /(b-a)$. A partition of mesh below $\delta$ then satisfiesproving that Continuous functions are Riemann integrable.

For the function defined using $g$, choose $K$ with $|f|\le K$. Given $\epsilon >0$, choose $\delta >0$ so small that $2K\delta <\epsilon /2$. On $[\delta ,1]$, the function $g$ is continuous and therefore has a partition whose upper-minus-lower sum is below $\epsilon /2$. Adding the interval $[0,\delta ]$ contributes at most $2K\delta$, regardless of the value $f(0)=\lambda$. Hence the full Darboux-sum difference is below $\epsilon$, and

Finally, for any partition $a=x_0<\cdots <x_n=b$, the mean value theorem supplies ${\xi }_i\in (x_{i-1},x_i)$ such thatSumming telescopes toa Riemann sum for the Riemann-integrable function $f^{\prime }$. Equivalently, every lower derivative sum is at most this telescoping value and every upper derivative sum is at least it. Taking the common upper and lower Darboux integrals proves the fundamental theorem of calculus conclusion

Assume $a_n\to 0$. The function is bounded, and every interval has lower Darboux sum zero because it contains an irrational. Given $\epsilon >0$, choose $N$ so that $a_n<\epsilon /2$ for $n>N$. Put small intervals around the finitely many points $q_1,\dots ,q_N$ whose total length makes their contribution to the upper sum less than $\epsilon /2$, and refine their endpoints to a partition. On every remaining subinterval the function is at most $\epsilon /2$, so the upper sum is less than $\epsilon$. The Riemann integrability criterion proves that $f$ is Riemann integrable with integral zero.

The condition $a_n\to 0$ is sufficient but not necessary. Assign $a_n=1$ when $q_n=1/k$ for some positive integer $k$, and $a_n=1/n$ otherwise. Then $(a_n)$ does not tend to zero. Outside a short interval near zero only finitely many unit spikes occur and can be enclosed in intervals of arbitrarily small total length; all remaining values can be made uniformly small except for finitely many further points. The same Darboux-sum argument proves that this $f$ is Riemann integrable with integral zero.

It is enough to treat an increasing function; replacing $f$ by $-f$ handles a decreasing one. Let $\mathcal{R}$ be the common refinement of dissections $\mathcal{D}$ and ${\mathcal{D}}^{\prime }$. Refinement raises lower Darboux sums and lowers upper ones, so

For the uniform dissection ${\mathcal{D}}_n=\{k/n:0\le k\le n\}$, monotonicity gives the telescoping differenceThis can be made smaller than any $\epsilon >0$, so the Riemann integrability criterion proves that $f$ is integrable.

The integral lies between the lower and upper sums, and the displayed sum in the question is the right-endpoint upper sum. Hence the generally valid sharp estimate isThe strict inequality printed in the question is false for arbitrary monotone functions: if $f(x)=0$ for $x<1$ and $f(1)=1$, the two sides of (1) are both $1/n$.

For the final claim, writeSince $F^{\prime }$ is continuous on a compact interval, it is uniformly continuous. Uniformly for $0\le t\le 1$,After the substitution $x=(k-1+t)/n$, summing the uniform errors givesThe right-hand sum is a Riemann integral, so the fundamental theorem of calculus yields

Let $f$ be continuous on $[0,1]$. Compactness makes it uniformly continuous. Given $\epsilon >0$, choose $\delta >0$ such thatChoose a partition with mesh smaller than $\delta$. The oscillation $M_j-m_j$ on every subinterval is then at most $\epsilon$, soThe Riemann integrability criterion proves that every continuous function on $[0,1]$ is Riemann integrable.

For $k\ge 1$, let $E_k$ be the set of numbers whose first digit $5$ occurs in position $k$. The first $k-1$ digits each have nine allowed values, while the $k$th is fixed, so $E_k$ is a union of decimal intervals of total lengthThe set $E_{\infty }$ of numbers having no digit $5$ can, after $N$ places, be covered by intervals of total length $(9/10{)}^N$; hence it has length zero.

For each fixed truncation level, the function is constant on finitely many decimal cylinders apart from the remaining set, whose covering length can be made arbitrarily small. The Riemann integrability criterion therefore shows that every truncation is Riemann integrable.

For integer $N$,The final term tends to zero, and monotonicity handles noninteger truncation levels. Therefore the first occurrence of a decimal digit calculation gives

Put $E_n={\sup }_{t\in [a,b]}|f(t)-{\varphi }_n(t)|\to 0$, so the hypothesis is uniform convergence. Every step function is bounded and Riemann integrable: away from its finitely many partition points it is constant, and those exceptional points can be covered by intervals of arbitrarily small total length. A partition of an interval containing their boundaries makes the difference of its upper Darboux sum and lower Darboux sum arbitrarily small.

Choose one $n$ with $E_n<\infty$. Boundedness of ${\varphi }_n$ and $|f|\le |{\varphi }_n|+E_n$ show that $f$ is a bounded function. Assume $a<b$, since for $a=b$ all the integrals are zero. Given $\eta >0$, choose $n$ so that $2E_n(b-a)<\eta /2$, and then a partition of an interval $P$ such that $U({\varphi }_n,P)-L({\varphi }_n,P)<\eta /2$. On every partition subinterval, $|f-{\varphi }_n|\le E_n$ givesThusThe Riemann integrability criterion proves that $f$ is Riemann integrable. Finally, linearity of the integral and monotonicity of the Riemann integral giveThereforeThis proves the relevant case of uniform convergence preserves integrals on a compact interval.

Assume, as required for the displayed integrals, that the $f_n$ are Riemann integrable on $[a,b]$. Their uniform limit $f$ is also Riemann integrable: if $\sup |f-f_N|<\epsilon$, the upper and lower Darboux sums for a partition of an interval differ for $f$ by at most the corresponding difference for $f_N$ plus $2\epsilon (b-a)$. Choosing $N$ and then a sufficiently fine partition of an interval proves the Riemann integrability criterion for $f$.

The integral estimate then givesThis proves that uniform convergence preserves integrals on a compact interval. Some integrability hypothesis is necessary: uniform convergence alone cannot make the integral of an arbitrary starting function exist.

Let $|f|\le M$ on $[0,1]$. Suppose finitely many nonoverlapping closed intervals, of total length at least $1-\delta$, can be chosen for each $\delta >0$, with $f$ Riemann integrable on each. Refine the intervals to make their total Darboux sum gap less than $\epsilon /2$. The remaining length contributes at most $2M\delta$. Taking $\delta <\epsilon /(4M)$ proves global Riemann integrability by the Riemann integrability criterion.

A bounded function on $[0,1]$ is Riemann integrable if and only if its upper Darboux sum minus its lower Darboux sum on the equal-length partition $D_n$ tends to zero. Sufficiency follows directly from the Riemann integrability criterion. Necessity follows by comparing with a fixed partition whose gap is small and using the finite bad-cell estimate for Darboux sums. The equal-length partitions need not be nested.