I'm currently studying for my master's qualifying exam and stumbled upon this problem.
Let $\{r_1,r_2,\ldots \}$ be an enumeration of the rationals in $[0,1].$ Let $f_n:[0,1]\rightarrow\mathbb{R}$ be defined as:
$f_n(x) =
\begin{cases}
\frac{1}{2^n\sqrt(|x-r_n|)} & x \neq r_n \\
0 & x=r_n
\end{cases}$.
Show that $\sum_{n=1}^\infty f_n(x)$ is convergent a.e.
I know that for the case of $x=r_n$ we would be working over a set of measure zero since rationals are countable, but I don't know how to tackle the other part of this function sequence.
Any hints on how to tackle this problem will be greatly appreciated!
Best Answer
$\displaystyle\int_I\frac{1}{\sqrt{|x-r_n|}}dx=\int^{r_n}_0\frac{1}{\sqrt{|x-r_n|}}dx+\int^1_{r_n}\frac{1}{\sqrt{|x-r_n|}}dx=2\sqrt{r_n}+2\sqrt{1-r_n}\le 4$. Therefore,
$\int^1_0f_n(x)dx\le \frac{4}{2^n}\tag 1$
Now, $(1)$ and monotone convergence theorem imply that $\sum^{\infty}_{k=1}f_k(x))<\infty$ almost everywhere because
$\int^1_0(\sum^{\infty}_{k=1}f_n(x))dx=\sum^{\infty}_{k=1}\int^1_0f_n(x)dx<\infty\tag2 $