Velvet Star Monitor

Standout celebrity highlights with iconic style.

updates

If $f_n \to f$ and $g_n \to g$ in measure and $\mu$ is finite, then $f_n g_n \to fg$ in measure

Writer Sebastian Wright
$\begingroup$

This is Problem 3.1.5 in Cohn's Measure Theory, 2nd edition.

Let $\mu$ be a measure on $(X, \mathcal A)$, and let $f, f_1,f_2, \ldots$ and $g,g_1,g_2,\ldots$ be real-valued $\mathcal A$-measureable functions on $X$.

(a) Show that if $\mu$ is finite, if $f_n \to f$ in measure, and $g_n \to g$ in measure, then $f_n g_n \to fg$ in measure.

With some effort, I was able to work out a direct proof, similar to the one outlined in this answer.

After re-reading the section, I came up with an alternative argument similar to the one used by Cohn to prove another theorem. It results in a much quicker proof, and almost seems like a magic trick. I want to make sure that my argument is correct.

I use the following results, proved by Cohn in this section, for real-valued measurable functions:

Proposition 3.1.3: If $f_n \to f$ in measure, then there is a subsequence such that $f_{n_k} \to f$ almost everywhere.

Proposition 3.1.2: If $\mu$ is finite and $f_n \to f$ almost everywhere, then $f_n \to f$ in measure.

Here is my proof:

Let $\{n_k\}$ be any subsequence of $\mathbb N$. Then $f_{n_k} \to f$ and $g_{n_k} \to g$ in measure, so by Proposition 3.1.3 there is a subsequence $\{n_{k_j}\}\subset \{n_k\}$ such that $f_{n_{k_j}} \to f$ and $g_{n_{k_j}} \to g$ almost everywhere. (To see this, take a subsequence of $\{n_k\}$ that works for $f$. Then that subsequence has a subsequence which works for both $f$ and $g$.) Therefore $f_{n_{k_j}} g_{n_{k_j}} \to fg$ almost everywhere.

As $\mu$ is finite, Proposition 3.1.2 implies that $f_{n_{k_j}} g_{n_{k_j}} \to fg$ in measure.

Now here is the magic part:

Suppose that $f_n g_n$ does not converge to $fg$ in measure. Then there is some $\epsilon > 0$ such that $\mu\{|f_n g_n - fg| > \epsilon\}$ does not converge to zero. Thus there is some $\delta > 0$ such that $\mu\{|f_n g_n - fg| > \epsilon\} > \delta$ for infinitely many $n$. In other words, there is a subsequence $\{n_k\} \subset \mathbb N$ such that $\mu\{|f_{n_k} g_{n_k} - fg| > \epsilon\} > \delta$ for all $n_k$. Clearly this subsequence cannot have any further subsequence $\{n_{k_j}\}$ for which $f_{n_{k_j}} g_{n_{k_j}} \to fg$ in measure, but this contradicts what we showed above. Consequently, $f_n g_n$ must converge to $fg$ in measure.


Is this argument legitimate? It almost seems too easy.

$\endgroup$ 10 Reset to default

Know someone who can answer? Share a link to this question via email, Twitter, or Facebook.

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Sign up using Google Sign up using Facebook Sign up using Email and Password

Post as a guest

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy