Froda's theorem


In mathematics, Darboux–Froda's theorem, named after Alexandru Froda, a Romanian mathematician, describes the set of discontinuities of a monotone real-valued function of a real variable. Usually, this theorem appears in literature without a name. It was written in Froda' thesis in 1929.. As it is acknowledged in the thesis, the theorem is in fact due to Jean Gaston Darboux.

Definitions

  1. Consider a function of real variable with real values defined in a neighborhood of a point and the function is discontinuous at the point on the real axis. We will call a removable discontinuity or a jump discontinuity a discontinuity of the first kind.
  2. Denote and. Then if and are finite we will call the difference the jump of f at.
If the function is continuous at then the jump at is zero. Moreover, if is not continuous at, the jump can be zero at if.

Precise statement

Let f be a real-valued monotone function defined on an interval I. Then the set of discontinuities of the first kind is at most countable.
One can prove that all points of discontinuity of a monotone real-valued function defined on an interval are jump discontinuities and hence, by our definition, of the first kind. With this remark Froda's theorem takes the stronger form:
Let f be a monotone function defined on an interval. Then the set of discontinuities is at most countable.

Proof

Let be an interval and, defined on, an increasing function. We have
for any. Let and let be points inside at which the jump of is greater or equal to :
We have or.
Then
and hence:.
Since we have that the number of points at which the jump is greater than is finite or zero.
We define the following sets:
We have that each set is finite or the empty set. The union
contains all points at which the jump is positive and hence contains all points of discontinuity. Since every is at most countable, we have that is at most countable.
If is decreasing the proof is similar.
If the interval is not closed and bounded then the interval can be written as a countable union of closed and bounded intervals with the property that any two consecutive intervals have an endpoint in common:
If then where is a strictly decreasing sequence such that In a similar way if or if.
In any interval we have at most countable many points of discontinuity, and since a countable union of at most countable sets is at most countable, it follows that the set of all discontinuities is at most countable.