Proving FTC2 (aka an introduction to integration theory)

by djmathman, Apr 28, 2016, 2:15 AM

Before we proceed, a word on the notation used in this blog post. Credits go to the class notes for most of the notation here.

A rectangle $R\in\mathbb{R}^n$ is a cartesian product \[R = \prod_{i=1}^n[a_i,b_i],\]where $a_i<b_i$ for $i\in\{1,\ldots, n\}$. (The idea of rectangle we're most familiar with is the special case of this definition for $n=2$.) We define its volume to be \[|R| = \prod_{i=1}^n(b_i-a_i).\]Given a rectangle $R$, we say a grid partition on $R$ is a collection of sequences \[\mathcal{P}_i = \{x_i^{(k)}\}_{k=0}^{\ell_i}\subseteq [a_i,b_i]\]such that \[a_i=x_i^{(0)}<x_i^{(1)}<\cdots<x_i^{(\ell_i)}=b_i\]for each $i\in\{1,\ldots, n\}$. To every such grid partition we associated a grid $\mathcal{G}$ on $R$ via \[\mathcal{G}=\left\{\prod_{i=1}^n[x_i^{(k_i-1)},x_i^{(k_i)}]\,|\,k_i\in\{1,\ldots,\ell_i\}\text{ for each }i=1,\ldots, n\right\}.\]Put in English terms, a grid is a collection of disjoint rectangles which together cover $R$ and which interlink in the way you'd expect.

Now that we have the notion of grids, we can define functions on these grids. Let $f$ be a function on a rectangle $R$, and let $\mathcal{G}=\{S_1,\ldots, S_m\}$ be a grid on $R$. We say that \[L(f,\mathcal{G}) = \sum_{i=1}^m\inf_{x\in S_i}f(x_i)|S_i|\]and analogously \[U(f,\mathcal{G}) = \sum_{i=1}^m\sup_{x\in S_i}f(x_i)|S_i|.\]These are analogous to Riemann sums, except that instead of choosing left or right endpoints, we determine the height of each rectangle based off the smallest or largest values the function $f$ attains inside said rectangle.

It turns out that these different definitions of $U$ and $L$ are needed because some functions don't behave nicely. Let $G$ be the set of all grids on a rectangle $R$ (which is a funny concept but is introduced in the name of simplicity). We say a function $f$ is Riemann-integrable on a rectangle $R$ if \[\sup_{\mathcal{G}\in G}L(f,\mathcal{G}) = \inf_{\mathcal{G}\in G}U(f,\mathcal{G}),\]in which case we say that $f\in\mathcal{R}(R)$ and define $\int_R f$ to be equal to this common value. Not all functions are Riemann integrable! Take for instance the function $f:[0,1]\to \mathbb{R}$ defined by \[f(x)=\begin{cases}1&\text{for }x\in\mathbb{Q},\\0&\text{for }x\in\mathbb{R}\setminus\mathbb{Q}.\end{cases}\]One can show that the values of $U(f,\mathcal{G})$ and $L(f,\mathcal{G})$ do not converge to any one value as $\mathcal{G}$ becomes finer and finer, and so $\int_{[0,1]} f$ does not exist.

Finally, it's important to note that these ideas of integration aren't restricted to rectangles: for any open set $U\in\mathbb{R}^n$, we can integrate about $U$ by considering rectangles $R$ which completely enclose $U$ and then setting $f$ to be $0$ for all $x\in R\setminus U$.

Now we continue our discussion with a lemma.
21-269 Vector Analysis PSet13 Problem 3 wrote:
Let $R \subseteq \mathbb{R}^n$ be a rectangle and let $\mathcal{G}= \{S_1,\dotsc,S_m\}$ be a grid on $R$. Prove that if $f \in \mathcal{R}(R)$ and $t_i \in S_i$ for each $i=1,\dotsc,m$, then
\[\left|\sum_{i=1 }^m  f(t_i)  |S_i| - \int_R f \right| \le U(f,\mathcal{G}) - L(f,\mathcal{G}).\]

Solution

And now we come to the interesting result.
21-269 Vector Analysis PSet13 Problem 5 wrote:
Prove the following theorem.

Theorem (Second Fundamental Theorem of Calculus). Let $a,b \in \mathbb{R}$ with $a < b$. Suppose that $F: [a,b] \to \mathbb{R}$ is continuous on $[a,b]$, differentiable on $(a,b)$, and $F' = f$ on $(a,b)$ for some $f \in \mathcal{R}([a,b])$. Then \[\int_a^b f = F(b)- F(a).\]

Solution

This is the sucky thing about calculus: there are actually proofs of all the results you use (the class I'm taking is completely devoted to this kind of thing, covering the theory of differentiation and integration in arbitrary dimensions with a touch of real analysis), but in order to prove anything the amount of background needed is much too difficult for any reasonable high school student to swallow. I guess calculus is one of the more applicable subjects to real life (as opposed to say Linear Algebra modulo all the "you can just plug this into a calculator" stuff), but at the same time a lack of rigor leaves the impression that some of the results seem arbitrary....
This post has been edited 4 times. Last edited by djmathman, Apr 28, 2016, 2:24 AM

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A blog documenting a (no longer) high school youth and his struggles with advancing his mathematical skill.

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  • dj so orz :omighty:

    by Yiyj1, Mar 29, 2025, 1:42 AM

  • legendary problem writer

    by Clew28, Jul 29, 2024, 7:20 PM

  • orz $$\,$$

    by balllightning37, Jul 26, 2024, 1:05 AM

  • hi dj $ $ $ $

    by OronSH, Jul 23, 2024, 2:14 AM

  • i wanna submit my own problems lol

    by ethanzhang1001, Jul 20, 2024, 9:54 PM

  • hi dj, may i have the role of contributer? :D

    by lpieleanu, Feb 23, 2024, 1:31 AM

  • This was helpful!

    by YIYI-JP, Nov 23, 2023, 12:42 PM

  • waiting for a recap of your amc proposals for this year :D

    by ihatemath123, Feb 17, 2023, 3:18 PM

  • also happy late bday man! i missed it by 2 days but hope you are enjoyed it

    by ab456, Dec 30, 2022, 10:58 AM

  • Contrib? :D

    by MC413551, Nov 20, 2022, 10:48 PM

  • :love: tfw kakuro appears on amc :love:

    by bissue, Aug 18, 2022, 4:32 PM

  • Hi dj :)

    by 799786, Aug 10, 2022, 1:44 AM

  • Roses are red,
    Wolfram is banned,
    The best problem writer is
    Djmathman

    by ihatemath123, Aug 6, 2022, 12:19 AM

  • hello :)

    by aidan0626, Jul 26, 2022, 5:49 PM

  • Do you have a link to your main blog that you started after graduating from high school, I couldn't find it. @dj I met you IRL at Awesome Math summer Program several years ago.

    by First, Mar 1, 2022, 5:18 PM

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