Strictly positive measure
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In mathematics, strict positivity is a concept in measure theory. Intuitively, a strictly positive measure one that is "nowhere zero", or that it is zero "only on points".
[edit] Definition
Let be a topological space, and let be a sigma algebra on Ω that contains the topology , so every open set in Ω is measurable. Then a measure on Ω is called strictly positive if every non-empty open set has positive measure μ(U) > 0.
[edit] Examples
- Dirac measure is usually not strictly positive unless the topology is particularly "coarse" (contains "few" sets). For example, δ0 on is not strictly positive; however, if we give the trivial topology , then δ0 is strictly positive. This example illustrates the importance of the topology in determining strict positivity.
- Counting measure on any set Ω (with any topology) is strictly positive.
- Gaussian measure on Euclidean space (with its Borel topology and sigma algebra) is strictly positive.
- Lebesgue measure on (with its Borel topology and sigma algebra) is strictly positive.
[edit] See also
- Support (measure theory): a measure is strictly positive if and only if its support is the whole space.