# Thread: L-1 space of integrable functions

1. ## L-1 space of integrable functions

If f is in L1 and delta > 0, then the L1 norm of f(delta*x)-f(x) goes to zero as delta goes to 1. I have been studying my text for two hours and still really don't understand it. Any thoughts?

By the way, I have some ideas--

If I can show that f is a continuous function of compact support, then I will know that f is dense in L-1. That will guarantee that there exists a function g in L-1 such that the L1 norm of f minus g is less than any epsilon (epsilon greater than zero).

rogerpodger

2. Originally Posted by rogerpodger
If f is in L1 and delta > 0, then the L1 norm of f(delta*x)-f(x) goes to zero as delta goes to 1. I have been studying my text for two hours and still really don't understand it. Any thoughts?

By the way, I have some ideas--

If I can show that f is a continuous function of compact support, then I will know that f is dense in L-1. That will guarantee that there exists a function g in L-1 such that the L1 norm of f minus g is less than any epsilon (epsilon greater than zero).
For $f\in L^1(\mathbb{R})$ and $\delta>0$, write $M_\delta f(x) = f(\delta x)$. You want to prove that $\|M_\delta f - f\|\to0$ as $\delta\to1$. I think that the idea of proving this by doing it first for the case when f is continuous with compact support is the best way to go about it.

The first step is to show that if $f,\,g\in L^1(\mathbb{R})$ then $\|M_\delta f - M_\delta g\| = \delta^{-1}\|f-g\|$. This is easily seen by making the substitution $y=\delta x$ in the integral $\int_{\mathbb{R}}|f(\delta x) - g(\delta x)|\,dx\ (= \|M_\delta f - M_\delta g\|)$. That shows that if $\delta$ is close to 1 and $f$ is close to $g$, then $M_\delta f$ is close to $M_\delta g$.

The next step is to show that if $g$ is continuous with compact support then $\|M_\delta g - g\|$ is small if $\delta$ is close to 1. This is an easy consequence of the fact that $g$ is uniformly continuous.

Now you just have to put those two steps together and use the triangle inequality: $\|f-M_\delta f\|\leqslant \|f-g\| + \|g-M_\delta g\| + \|M_\delta g - M_\delta f\|$. If $g$ is close enough to $f$ and $\delta$ is sufficiently close to 1, then all three terms on the right side of the inequality can be made arbitrarily small.

3. ## Thanks!

I was able to solve the problem! Thanks for you help! You gave me somewhere to go without doing the problem for me! I really appreciate it!

rogerpodger