last updated: May 9, 2024

Probability with Measure

4.9 Multiple integrals and function spaces ()

This section is included for interest. It is marked with a () and it is off-syllabus. It includes two separate topics.

4.9.1 Fubini’s Theorem ()

Fubini and Tonelli’s theorems let us deal with expressions involving multiple integrals, for example of the form S1S2f(x,y)dxdy. They give different sets of conditions under which we can change the order of integration. Loosely, Tonelli’s theorem is an analogue of the MCT and Fubini’s theorem is an analogue of the DCT. Before introducing them we need to handle some measure theoretic details.

For i=1,2 let (Si,Σi,mi) be measure spaces and recall the product measure space (S1×S2,Σ1Σ2,m1×m2) introduced in Section 1.9. If f:S1×S2R is measurable then the coordinate projections xf(x,y) and yf(x,y) are measurable for almost all xS1 and yS2. Moreover, if fL1(S1×S2) then these coordinate projections are respectively in L(S1) and L1(S2), again for almost all xS1 and yS2, and the same is true of the functions xS2f(x,y)m2(dy) and yS2f(x,y)m2(dx). We won’t include a proof of these claims here. They put us a in a position to state the key result of this section.

  • Theorem 4.9.1 Let f:S1×S2R be measurable. Suppose that at least one of the following conditions holds.

    • 1. Fubini’s Theorem: fL1(S1×S2).

    • 2. Tonelli’s Theorem: f0.

    Then

    S1×S2fd(m1×m2)=S1(S2f(x,y)dm2(y))dm1(x)=S2(S1f(x,y)dm1(x))dm2(y).

In the case of Fubini’s theorem S1×S2fd(m1×m2) is a real number, whilst in the case of Tonelli’s theorem it is in [0,]. These results are named after the Italian mathematicians Guido Fubini (1879-1943) and Leonida Tonelli (1885-1946). They are very important results, equal in stature to the MCT and DCT, but we omit a full treatment of them from our course in order to progress on to thinking about probability.

4.9.2 Function Spaces ()

This section is aimed at those taking courses in functional analysis. An important application of Lebesgue integration is to the construction of Banach spaces Lp(S,Σ,m) of equivalence classes of real-valued functions, where the equivalence relation f=a.e.g is used on Lp(S,Σ,m), and which satisfy the requirement

||f||p=(S|f|pdm)1p<,

where 1p<. The function ||||p is a norm on Lp(S,Σ,m) if p[1,), but it is not a norm for p<1. This is the reason why, in Section 7.2, we will only define Lp convergence for p1.

When p=2 we obtain a Hilbert space with inner product:

f,g=Sfgdm.

There is also a Banach space L(S,Σ,m) where

||f||=inf{M0;|f(x)|M a.e.}.

Variants of all of these spaces exist with C in place of R, using Lebesgue integration over C as defined in Section 4.8. These spaces play important roles in functional analysis.