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On the notions of upper and lower density

Part of: Classical measure theory Probability theory on algebraic and topological structures Sequences and sets

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 August 2019

Paolo Leonetti  and
Salvatore Tringali
Paolo Leonetti
Affiliation:
Department of Statistics, Università Luigi Bocconi, via Sarfatti 25, 20136 Milano, Italy (leonetti.paolo@gmail.com)
Salvatore Tringali
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, Texas A & M University at Qatar, PO Box 23874 Doha, Qatar (salvo.tringali@gmail.com)
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Abstract

Let $\mathcal {P}(\mathbf{N})$ be the power set of N. We say that a function $\mu ^\ast : \mathcal {P}(\mathbf{N}) \to \mathbf{R}$ is an upper density if, for all X, Y ⊆ N and h, k ∈ N+, the following hold: (f1) $\mu ^\ast (\mathbf{N}) = 1$; (f2) $\mu ^\ast (X) \le \mu ^\ast (Y)$ if X ⊆ Y; (f3) $\mu ^\ast (X \cup Y) \le \mu ^\ast (X) + \mu ^\ast (Y)$; (f4) $\mu ^\ast (k\cdot X) = ({1}/{k}) \mu ^\ast (X)$, where k · X : = {kx: x ∈ X}; and (f5) $\mu ^\ast (X + h) = \mu ^\ast (X)$. We show that the upper asymptotic, upper logarithmic, upper Banach, upper Buck, upper Pólya and upper analytic densities, together with all upper α-densities (with α a real parameter ≥ −1), are upper densities in the sense of our definition. Moreover, we establish the mutual independence of axioms (f1)–(f5), and we investigate various properties of upper densities (and related functions) under the assumption that (f2) is replaced by the weaker condition that $\mu ^\ast (X)\le 1$ for every X ⊆ N. Overall, this allows us to extend and generalize results so far independently derived for some of the classical upper densities mentioned above, thus introducing a certain amount of unification into the theory.

Keywords

analytic densityasymptotic (or natural) densityaxiomatizationBanach (or uniform) densityBuck densitylogarithmic densityPólya densityupper and lower densities

MSC classification

Primary: 11B05: Density, gaps, topology 28A10: Real- or complex-valued set functions 39B52: Equations for functions with more general domains and/or ranges
Secondary: 60B99: None of the above, but in this section

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society , Volume 63 , Issue 1 , February 2020 , pp. 139 - 167
Copyright
Copyright © Edinburgh Mathematical Society 2019

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Footnotes

*

Current address: Institute of Analysis and Number Theory, Graz University of Technology, Kopernikusgasse 24/II, 8010 Graz, Austria.

†

Current address: College of Mathematics and Information Science, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province 050000, China.

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