A Bounded Derivative Which is Not Riemann Integrable

Author(s): Casper Goffman

Source: The American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 84, No. 3 (Mar., 1977), pp. 205-206
Published by: Mathematical Association of America
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2319494
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1977]

CLASSROOM

205

NOTES

ON A NECESSARY AND SUFFICIENT CONDITION

FOR RIEMANN INTEGRABILITY
LEO M. LEVINE

Let D be thesetofpointsofdiscontinuity
off: I - R whereI is anyinterval
ofthereallineR. Let
limitat x}.
{x: f has a left-hand
La Vita[1]provedthatifS is a closedsubsetofL thenD n s is countable.He thenmadeuse of
thisresultto provethatf is continuous
limita.e. ThusLebesgue's
a.e. ifandonlyiff hasa left-hand
well-known
necessary
andsufficient
condition
forRiemannintegrability
ofa boundedfunction
on a
finiteinterval
can be replacedby the"weaker"condition
thatf have a left-hand
limita.e.
It is thepurposeofthisnoteto presenta muchshorter
andsimpler
proofthanthatgivenin[11of
the followingstronger
result,fromwhichthe equivalenceof the two conditionsfor Riemann
integrability
followsimmediately.
L

THEOREM. D

n L is countable.

Proof.Let Dn ={x: osc(f,x) > 11n}, n = 1,2,3,..., where

Ix -aI<}-inf{f(x):Ix
osc(f,a)= lim(supff(x):

-aI<8}).

= Un=l
D n L = Un=1 Dnn L, we needonlyprovethatDnn L
Dn and therefore
is countable for each n.
Suppose x. E Dn n L. Since xoE L, thereexistsa $ > 0 such that If(x) - f(x )I < 112n
for all x E (xo- 8,xo). Hence

SinceD

If(x1) - f(x2)1<1/n

for xl, x2 E (xO- 8,xO).

It followsthat if x E (xo- 8; xo) then osc (f x) ?l /n,so that x 0 Dn. Thus any point of
Dn f L is the rightendpointof an open intervalwhichcontainsno pointof Dn n L. Since
these open intervalsare clearlydisjoint,and hence forma countable set, it followsthat
Dn f L is countable, and the theoremis proved.
References
conditionfor Riemann integration,this MONTHLY, 71 (1964)
1. J. A. La Vita, A necessaryand sufficient
193-196.
DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS, QUEENSBOROUGH COMMUNITY COLLEGE, BAYSIDE, NY 11364.

A BOUNDED DERIVATIVE WHICH IS NOT RIEMANN INTEGRABLE

CASPER GOFEMAN

We givea verysimpleexampleof a boundedderivative

whichis notRiemannintegrable.
Let
f: [0,1]-* R be definedas follows.Let G C [0,1] be a denseopensetwhichis theunionofpairwise
disjointopenintervals,
is 2. Foreach n,letJnC In be'a closedinterval
{In},thesumofwhoselengths
in thecenterof In suchthatthe lengthssatisfyl(Jn)= [I(In)]2.For each n, definef on Jnto be
1 at the center,0 at the end pointsand alwaysbetween0 and 1. Definef to be 0
continuous,
everywhere
else.
Thefunction
f is notRiemannintegrable.
Forif7ris anypartitioning
of[0,1] theintervals
ofir in

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206

[March

S. H. WEINTRAUB

of f is 1 have lengthsumexceeding2, so that

whichtheoscillation

If-f f4
so that
fromthefactthatitis boundedandapproximately
continuous
Thatf is a derivative
follows
thatthismaybe
itis thederivative
ofitsindefinite
Lebesgueintegral
F(x) = fxf(t)dt.It is ofinterest
F maybe obtainedas an improper
The function
shownwithout
theuse of theLebesgueintegral.
integral
by letting
F(x)=

ff(t)dt,

EA

n=l1K

whichmeetsthecomplement
of G,
whereKn= Jnn [0,x], n = 1,2,.
Let I C [0,1] be an interval
andlet n be suchthatI nfJn 0. Let Sn= l(In).SinceSn<-'2 itfollowsthat1(I nfIn)> (Sn- sn)_
4 Sn Then l(I n in)< l(J
n)= S2 -<16{l(I nIn}2. If N = {n: I nnJn0}, then
neN

, (I n in)-- E

neN

For x0 G and yX x, we havefYf(t)dt- 16(yobvious.

see [1], [2], and [3].
For comparison

16f1(inI)-

16{1I)

whenceF'(x) = 0. ThatF'(x) = f(x) on G is

X)2,

References
1. C. Goffman,Real Functions,Rinehart,New York, 1960, p. 210-11.
2. E. W. Hobson, The Theory of Functionsof a Real Variable and the Theory of Fourier Series, Vol. 2,
Cambridge,p. 412-421.
3. I. P. Natanson, Theory of Functionsof a Real Variable, vol. 1, Ungar, New York, 1960, p. 133.
DEPARTMENT

OF MATHEMATICS,

PURDUE

UNIVERSITY,

WEST LAFAYETTE,

HOMOLOGICAL
STEVEN

H.

IN 47907.

DOTS

WEINTRAUB

In this note, I would like to introducea new mathematical

game. I originally
called it
"Commutative
reflects
itsessence,butfor
DiagramsandExactSequences,"a namewhichaccurately
as wellas itsresemblance
reasonsof euphony,
to thechildren's
gameof Dots, I havechangedthe
nameto theone above.
The rulesare as follows:
1. The gameis playedon a 5 x 5 lattice.
2. The first
moveconsistsofwriting
downan arbitrary
finitely
generated
abeliangroupat some
latticepoint.
3. Anysubsequent
moveconsists
ofwriting
downan arbitrary
abeliangroupon
finitely
generated
a vacantlatticepointwhichisorthogonally
adjacenttoan alreadyoccupiedlatticepoint,together
with
mapsto/from
theadjacentgroup(s),subjectto thefollowing
conditions:
(a) All arrowsare to therightor down.
(b) All horizontal
or verticalsequencesmustbe exact.
(c) All squaresmustcommute.
4. Scoring:Supposea playermakesa movewhichmakesit impossible
to legallyfillsomeother

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