Lebesgue Integral Solved Problems
Lebesgue Integral Solved Problems
Problem 1: Simple Example of a Lebesgue Integral
Problem: Compute the Lebesgue integral of the function
f(x) = 2
over the interval [0, 3]
using the Lebesgue measure.
Solution:
- First, recall that in the Lebesgue integral, we’re summing over the function values multiplied by the measure of the set where the function takes those values.
- Since
f(x) = 2
is constant for allx ∈ [0, 3]
, we can simplify the calculation. - We need to compute:
∫₀³ 2 dμ(x)
where
μ(x)
is the Lebesgue measure, and it assigns the “length” of the interval to the set. - For a constant function, this is simply the value of the function multiplied by the length of the interval:
∫₀³ 2 dx = 2 × (3 - 0) = 6
Conclusion: The Lebesgue integral of f(x) = 2
over [0, 3]
is 6
.
Problem 2: Lebesgue Integral of a Highly Oscillatory Function
Problem: Compute the Lebesgue integral of the oscillatory function
f(x) = sin(1/x)
over the interval (0, 1]
.
Solution:
- The function
f(x) = sin(1/x)
oscillates wildly asx → 0
. To manage this, we’ll need to carefully apply the Lebesgue integral by breaking the function into smaller pieces. - To compute the Lebesgue integral, we will use the absolute integrability of the function and analyze whether this integral converges.
- We need to compute:
∫₀¹ sin(1/x) dx
The oscillations in
sin(1/x)
are extreme asx → 0
, but due to the bounded nature of the sine function (i.e.,|sin(⋅)| ≤ 1
), we can assess whether the integral of this oscillatory function converges or not.
Strategy:
Although the function oscillates as x → 0
, the crucial idea is whether the oscillations “cancel out” enough to give a convergent integral. In fact, due to the high-frequency oscillations near 0, the integral doesn’t have a limit in the classical sense.
But we can study the absolute value of the function to determine whether it’s integrable in the Lebesgue sense.
Step-by-Step:
- We examine the behavior of the integral of the absolute value:
∫₀¹ |sin(1/x)| dx
- Since
|sin(⋅)| ≤ 1
, we know that:∫₀¹ |sin(1/x)| dx ≤ ∫₀¹ 1 dx = 1
This shows that the absolute value of the oscillatory function is bounded and integrable over
(0, 1]
.
Conclusion:
While we cannot easily compute the exact value of this integral (as it doesn’t have a simple expression), the key insight is that Lebesgue integration allows us to conclude that the oscillatory function f(x) = sin(1/x)
is Lebesgue integrable over (0, 1]
, thanks to the boundedness of the sine function and the convergence of the integral.
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