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A Darboux function is a function that has the intermediate value property. That is a function $f$ such that

$$ \forall a,b \in \mathbb{R} : f[a,b] \supseteq [f(a),f(b)] \cup[f(b),f(a)] $$

We define the sum of two functions as such

$$ (f+g)(x) = f(x)+g(x)$$

Now the question is:

If $f$ is a Darboux function and $g$ is a continuous function, must $f+g$ be a Darboux function as well?

Arctic Char
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  • @WheatWizard My answer was incorrect, you are right. But the definition you are giving is incorrect too, isn't it? A Darboux function is such that $\forall y\in[f(a),f(b)]$ the exists $c\in[a,b]$ such that $f(c)=y$. But if I did not understand wrongly, you are saying that $f$ is Darboux if $\forall y\in[a,b]$, $f(y)\in[f(a),f(b)] \cup [f(b),f(a)]$, which is not the same. – AugSB Feb 20 '18 at 20:23
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    @AugSB Yes my definition was backwards. I've fixed it now. – Sriotchilism O'Zaic Feb 20 '18 at 20:30

2 Answers2

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This is a very good question that leads into some fairly hard mathematics: the answer depends on what set theoretic assumptions you are prepared to make. If you assume the continuum hypothesis, there are what are called universally bad Darboux functions $f$ such that $f+g$ is not Darboux for any non-constant continuous $g$. See https://www.encyclopediaofmath.org/index.php/Darboux_property and the references it cites.

Rob Arthan
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    You may need the continuum hypothesis to get a universally bad Darboux function, but no fancy axioms are needed to get a counterexample to the OP's question. I don't think the construction in my answer even requires the axiom of choice but I could be wrong. – bof Sep 25 '20 at 07:58
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Here is a counterexample; no fancy set-theoretic axioms needed. A Cantor set is a set homeomorphic to the standard Cantor set.

Let $\{I_1,I_2,I_3,\dots\}$ be the set of all rational open intervals; let $I_n=(a_n,b_n)$ and let $c_n=\frac{a_n+b_n}2$.

Choose pairwise disjoint Cantor sets $A_1,B_1,A_2,B_2,A_3,B_3,\dots$ with $A_n\subseteq(a_n,c_n)$ and $B_n\subseteq(c_n,b_n)$.

Define $\alpha_n=\min\{c_n,-n\}$ and $\beta_n=\max\{c_n,n\}$.

Define $f:\mathbb R\to\mathbb R$ so that $f[A_n]=[c_n,\beta_n]$, $f[B_n]=[\alpha_n,c_n]$, and $f(x)=x+1$ if $x\notin\bigcup_n(A_n\cup B_n)$.

Since every interval of $\mathbb R$ contains infinitely many rational intervals $I_n$, and since $f[I_n]\supseteq f[A_n]\cup f[B_n]=[\alpha_n,\beta_n]\supseteq[-n,n]$, the function $f$ takes all real values in every interval, and is therefore a Darboux function.

Let $g(x)=-x$ and $h(x)=f(x)+g(x)=f(x)-x$.

If $x\in A_n$, then $x\lt c_n\le f(x)$, so $h(x)\gt0$; i.e., $\{x:h(x)\gt0\}\supseteq\bigcup_nA_n$ is dense in $\mathbb R$. Similarly, if $x\in B_n$, then $x\gt c_n\ge f(x)$, so $h(x)\lt0$; i.e., $\{x:h(x)\lt0\}\supseteq\bigcup_nB_n$ is dense in $\mathbb R$. However, $f(x)\ne x$ for all $x$, so $h(x)$ is never zero. This shows that $h$ is not a Darboux function.

P.S. A commenter says I need to justify the nontrivial fact then the sequence of Cantor sets $A_n, B_n$ can be constructed. Suppose that $A_1,B_1,\dots,A_{n-1},B_{n-1}$ have already been constructed. Then the set $E_n=A_1\cup B_1\cup\cdots\cup A_{n-1}\cup B_{n-1}$ is nowhere dense, because the Cantor sets $A_i,B_i$ are nowhere dense, and a finite union of nowhere dense sets is nowhere dense. In particular $E_n$ is not dense in $(a_n,c_n)$, so the set $(a_n,c_n)\setminus E_n$ contains an interval, and we can construct a Cantor set $A_n$ inside this interval. Likewise, we can construct a Cantor set $B_n$ inside $(c_n,b_n)\setminus E_n$.

bof
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  • No justification is provided that $A_n$ and $B_n$ exist, and it's not a trivial fact. – Sriotchilism O'Zaic Jul 09 '22 at 10:40
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    @SriotchilismO'Zaic Maybe not quite trivial, but I thought it was straightforward enough (at the level of the question) that I could leave the details to the reader and save my arthritic fingers a bit of painful typing. I figured I had done enough work to earn what I am paid for answering questions here. But now, at your request, I added the details. – bof Jul 09 '22 at 11:18