Part of a series of articles about |
Calculus |
---|
In mathematics, the integral of a non-negative function of a single variable can be regarded, in the simplest case, as the area between the graph of that function and the X axis. The Lebesgue integral, named after French mathematician Henri Lebesgue, is one way to make this concept rigorous and to extend it to more general functions.
The Lebesgue integral is more general than the Riemann integral, which it largely replaced in mathematical analysis since the first half of the 20th century. It can accommodate functions with discontinuities arising in many applications that are pathological from the perspective of the Riemann integral. The Lebesgue integral also has generally better analytical properties. For instance, under mild conditions, it is possible to exchange limits and Lebesgue integration, while the conditions for doing this with a Riemann integral are comparatively baroque. Furthermore, the Lebesgue integral can be generalized in a straightforward way to more general spaces, measure spaces, such as those that arise in probability theory.
The term Lebesgue integration can mean either the general theory of integration of a function with respect to a general measure, as introduced by Lebesgue, or the specific case of integration of a function defined on a sub-domain of the real line with respect to the Lebesgue measure.
© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search