Oscillation criterion for Riemann integrability
A bounded function is Riemann integrable exactly when its total oscillation can be made small by a partition.
Oscillation criterion: Let and let be bounded. For a partition , let be the oscillation of on the subinterval . Then is a Riemann integrable function on if and only if for every there exists a partition such that
This criterion is equivalent to the usual definition via upper sums and lower sums, and it is especially useful for proving integrability results like finite discontinuities imply integrability.