- #1
genericusrnme
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I was just reading through the first few pages of Fomin's Calculus of Variations and I came across this proof, which really doesn't seem to prove the Lemma (I may be missing something though) could someone give me a second opinion and perhaps some clarification?
It goes like this;
If [itex]\alpha(x)[/itex] is continuous in [a,b] and if [itex]\int_a^b \alpha(x) h'(x) dx=0[/itex] for every function [itex]h(x)\in D_1(a,b)[/itex] such that h(a)=h(b)=0 then [itex]\alpha(x)=c[/itex] for all x in [a,b], where c is a constant.
Where [itex]D_1(a,b)[/itex] is the space of all once differentiable functions.
Now, here's the given proof;
Let c be the constant defined by the condition [itex]\int_a^b (\alpha(x) - c)dx=0[/itex] and let [itex]h(x) = \int_a^x (\alpha(\xi) - c) d \xi[/itex] so that h(x) automatically belongs to [itex]D_1(a,b)[/itex] and satisfies the conditions h(a)=h(b)=0. Then on the one hand;
[itex]\int_a^b(\alpha(x) - c)h'(x)dx = \int_a^b\alpha(x)h'(x)dx - c (h(b)-h(a))=0[/itex]
while on the other hand;
[itex]\int_a^b(\alpha(x)-c)h'(x)dx = \int_a^b(\alpha(x)-c)^2dx.[/itex]
It follows that [itex]\alpha(x)-c=0[/itex] for all x in [a,b]
It just seems to me that this only proves the lemma for one specific case and that we've used the 'then' in the proof of the theorem.. Am I wrong in thinking this?
Thanks in advance!
It goes like this;
If [itex]\alpha(x)[/itex] is continuous in [a,b] and if [itex]\int_a^b \alpha(x) h'(x) dx=0[/itex] for every function [itex]h(x)\in D_1(a,b)[/itex] such that h(a)=h(b)=0 then [itex]\alpha(x)=c[/itex] for all x in [a,b], where c is a constant.
Where [itex]D_1(a,b)[/itex] is the space of all once differentiable functions.
Now, here's the given proof;
Let c be the constant defined by the condition [itex]\int_a^b (\alpha(x) - c)dx=0[/itex] and let [itex]h(x) = \int_a^x (\alpha(\xi) - c) d \xi[/itex] so that h(x) automatically belongs to [itex]D_1(a,b)[/itex] and satisfies the conditions h(a)=h(b)=0. Then on the one hand;
[itex]\int_a^b(\alpha(x) - c)h'(x)dx = \int_a^b\alpha(x)h'(x)dx - c (h(b)-h(a))=0[/itex]
while on the other hand;
[itex]\int_a^b(\alpha(x)-c)h'(x)dx = \int_a^b(\alpha(x)-c)^2dx.[/itex]
It follows that [itex]\alpha(x)-c=0[/itex] for all x in [a,b]
It just seems to me that this only proves the lemma for one specific case and that we've used the 'then' in the proof of the theorem.. Am I wrong in thinking this?
Thanks in advance!