Can a function that is undefined be lebesgue integrable

lebesgue-integrallebesgue-measure

Let $a \in \mathbb{R}$ be such that $a>0$.

If I have a function $f:[-a,a] \rightarrow\mathbb{R}$ that is defined by $f(x) = \frac{1}{g(x)}$ and if $g(c)=0$ for some $c\in (-a,a)$.

Is it safe to conclude that $f$ is not lebesgue integrable over $[-a,a]$ with respect to the lebesgue measure?

I would say $f$ is not integrable over $[-a,a]$ as it is undefined at $c$.

However, if we ignore $c$ in the domain then $f$ is integrable and so can we say $f$ is integrable as it is only “not integrable” on a null set?

Best Answer

There is no functions that are undefined at some point, that is, if $f(x):=\frac1{g(x)}$ and $g(x)=0$ for some $x$ then $f$ is not well-defined. However if you change the values of $f$ to something else, say zero, when $g$ is zero, then this new function is well-defined.

In Lebesgue integration theory we usually consider, instead of individual functions, equivalent classes of measurable functions. A class of measurable functions is a set of functions such the set of points where any two functions of this class are different is a set of zero measure, that is, if $\mathcal{L}_0(\mathbb{R})$ represent the set of Lebesgue measurable functions from $\mathbb{R}$ to $\mathbb{C}$, then for any $f\in \mathcal{L}_0(\mathbb{R})$ it equivalence class is defined by

$$ [f]:=\{h\in \mathcal{L}_0(\mathbb{R}): f(x)=h(x) \text{ almost everywhere }\} $$

Almost everywhere means that the set $\{x\in \mathbb{R}: f(x)\neq h(x)\}$ have zero measure. In this sense if $g$ is a measurable function and the set $\{x\in \mathbb{R}: g(x)=0\}$ have measure zero, then in the equivalent class of $g$, namely $[g]$, there is some function $g_1$ such that $g_1(x)=1$ whenever $g(x)=0$, therefore the equivalent class of $\frac1{g_1}$ is well-defined. So, in your example, we can consider $f$ as a representative of the class $\left[\frac1{g_1}\right]$.