Pointwise Addition preserves A.E. Equality

Theorem
Let $\struct {X, \Sigma, \mu}$ be a measure space.

Let $f, g, h : X \to \overline \R$ be functions with:


 * $f = g$ $\mu$-almost everywhere

and the pointwise sums $f + h$ and $g + h$ well-defined.

Then:


 * $f + h = g + h$ $\mu$-almost everywhere.

Proof
Since:


 * $f = g$ $\mu$-almost everywhere

there exists a $\mu$-null set $N \subseteq X$ such that:


 * if $x \in X$ has $\map f x \ne \map g x$ then $x \in N$.

Note that if $x \in X$ is such that:


 * $\map f x = \map g x$

then:


 * $\map f x + \map h x = \map g x + \map h x$

By the Rule of Transposition, we therefore have:


 * if $x \in X$ has $\map f x + \map h x \ne \map g x + \map h x$ then $\map f x \ne \map g x$.

So:


 * if $x \in X$ has $\map f x + \map h x \ne \map g x + \map h x$ then $x \in N$.

Since $N$ is $\mu$-null, we therefore have:


 * $f + h = g + h$ $\mu$-almost everywhere.