[Math] Sequence of functions convergence, interchanging limit/integral

analysisreal-analysisuniform-convergence

This seems like a simple enough problem, but I'm having some trouble. Here it is:

Suppose $f:[0,\infty)\rightarrow \mathbb{R} $ is continuous, and $\lim\limits_{x\rightarrow \infty}f(x)=L.$ Then $\lim\limits_{n \rightarrow \infty}\int_0^1 f(nx)dx=L.$

My thoughts:

  1. First, I think since $f(x)$ is continuous on $[0,\infty)$, $f(nx)$ is continuous on $[0,1]$ (I haven't proved this), and hence integrable on $[0,1]$.

  2. Then, if we can show $f(nx)$ converges to $L$ uniformly on $[0,1]$, then we may interchange the limit and integral as
    $$\lim\limits_{n \rightarrow \infty}\int_0^1 f(nx)dx=\int_0^1 \lim\limits_{n \rightarrow \infty}f(nx)dx=\int_0^1Ldx=L.
    $$

Your thoughts? Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

(This is not homework)

Best Answer

The sequence $(f(nx))$ converges to the function $h$ defined by $$h(x)=\left\{\begin{array}{cl}\\L&\quad\text{if}\ 0<x\leq1\\ f(0)&\quad\text{if}\ x=0 \end{array}\right.$$ and since the continuous function has a finite limite at $+\infty$ then it's bounded on the interval $[0,+\infty)$ so there's $M>0$ s.t. $$|f(nx)|\leq M \quad \forall\ 0\leq x\leq 1$$ hence we apply the dominated convergence theorem and we have $$\lim_{n\to\infty}\int_0^1f(nx)dx=\int_0^1h(x)dx=L.$$

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