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Definition of countable base for a measure

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sto

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May 8, 2011, 12:02:33 PM5/8/11
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I have the following definition of "countable base" for a measure, which
I think is not quite correct:

Let (X,S,m) be a sigma-finite measure space. If S contains a countable
class of sets A be having the property that, for any e>0 and E in S,
there exists an E0 in A such that m(E\E0 \/ E0\E) < e, then m is said to
have a *countable base*.

It seems to me that the correct definition is actually "for any e>0 and
E in S having m(E) < oo". Is that not the case?

David C. Ullrich

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May 10, 2011, 8:50:16 AM5/10/11
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Definitions are arbitrary - they can't be "correct" or "incorrect".
Even when a term has a standard definition, there's nothing
wrong with a non-standard use of the term, _if_ the
non-standard definition is given explicitly.

The more important question is whether the way the author
of whatever you're reading uses the term in a way that's
consistent with the definition he gives. (Hmm, for example
Lebesgue measure on R has a countable base in the one
sense but not in the other...)

Having said that definitions are arbitrary, I'll also say this:
If I saw this terminology wth no defintion given, my
guess at the meaning would allow m(E) = infinity, but
would also allow E0 to be an element of the sigma-algebra
generated by A.

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