Upper and lower densities have the strong Darboux property (Q503735): Difference between revisions

In the paper under review, \(\mathbb H\) denotes the set \(\mathbb Z\) of integers, the set \(\mathbb N\) of nonnegative integers or the set \(\mathbb N^+\) of positive integers; and \(\mathcal P(\mathbb H)\) denotes the power set of \(\mathbb H\). The authors define the ``upper quasi-density'' as being a function \(\mu^*:\mathcal P(\mathbb H)\mapsto\) \(]-\infty, +1]\) satisfying the rules: (R1) \(\mu^*(\mathbb H)=1;\) (R2) \(\mu^*(X\cup Y)\leq\mu^*(X)+ \mu^*(Y)\) for all \(X,Y\subseteq\mathbb H;\) (R3) \(\mu^*(k\cdot X+h)={1\over k}\mu^*(X)\) for all \(X\subseteq\mathbb H\), \(k\in\mathbb N^+\) and \(h\in\mathbb N\). The notion of ``upper density'' mentioned in the title is an upper quasi-density which verifies the supplementary rule of monotonicity: (R4) \(\mu^*(X)\leq\mu^*(Y)\) for \(X\subseteq Y\subseteq\mathbb H\). The authors prove that every upper quasi-density verifies the ``strong Darboux property'' formulated as follows: `For all \(X\subseteq Y\subseteq\mathbb H\) such that \(\mu^*(X)\leq\mu^*(Y)\) and any \(a\in[\mu^*(X),\mu^*(Y)],\) there is a set \(Z\) such that \(X\subseteq Z\subseteq Y\) and \(\mu^*(Z)=a.\)' NB: 1) The ``weak'' Darboux property is the above formulated property with the restriction that \(X=\emptyset\). 2) The strong Darboux property is also valid for the ``lower quasi density'' defined by \(\mu_*(X):=1-\mu^*(X^c)\) where \(X^c:=\mathbb H\setminus X.\) The proofs are self-contained. The authors need some lemmas from their extended study [``On the notions of upper and lower density'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:1506.04664}]. The lemmas needed are formulated and re-proved in the present paper.