[Math] Darboux and Riemann integrability: does the partition matter

integrationreal-analysis

When we say that a function is Riemann or Darboux integrable, do the partitions matter? In other words, suppose that we have a closed interval $[a,b]$ and a function $f$ that is bounded on said interval. If one can find only one partition such that $U(f)=L(f)$, would that be enough to show that the function $f$ is integrable on $[a,b]$? Or does the equality have to hold regardless of the choice of partition?

(Note: here $U(f)$ is the upper Darboux integral and $L(f)$ is the lower Darboux integral).

Best Answer

The upper and lower Darboux integrals do not depend on the partitions, they are the infimum and supremum of all upper and lower Darboux sums for all possible partitions of your block. That is, $U(f)=\inf_{P}U(f,P)$ and $L(f)=\sup_{P}L(f,P)$. We know that for any pair of partitions $L(f,P)\leqslant U(f,P')$. If for some partition, $L(f,P)=U(f,P)$, then it follows that $f$ is integrable, for it will follow $L(f)=\sup_P L(f,P)=U(f,P)\geqslant \inf_P U(f,P)=U(f)$. Since we always have $L(f)\leqslant U(f)$, we have $L(f)=U(f)$ and $f$ is Riemann integrable.

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