TITLE: Every absolutely continuous function with integrable derivative tends to zero at infinity
QUESTION [5 upvotes]: I am given $f,f' \in L^1(\mathbb{R})$, and f is absolute continuous, I want to show that:
$$\lim_{|x|\rightarrow \infty} f(x)= 0$$
Not sure how to show this, I know that $f(x)=\int_0^x f'(t) \, dt+f(0)$, and I can assume without loss of generality that $f(0)=0$, any help?
Thanks in advance.

REPLY [2 votes]: For every $x,s \in \mathbf{R}$ we have
$$
|f(x)| = \left|f(s)+\int_s^x f'(t)dt\right| \le |f(s)|+\int_s^x |f'(t)|dt.
$$
Integrating the above inequality over $x\le s \le x+1$ we get
\begin{eqnarray}
|f(x)|
&\le& \int_{x}^{x+1}|f(s)|ds+\int_{x}^{x+1}(\int_s^x |f'(t)|dt)ds\cr
&\le& \int_{x}^{x+1}|f(s)|ds+\int_{x}^{x+1}(\int_{x}^{x+1}|f'(t)|dt)ds\cr
&=& \int_{x}^{x+1}|f(s)|ds+\int_{x}^{x+1}|f'(t)|dt.
\end{eqnarray}
Thus we have
$$
|f(x)| \le a(x):=\int_{x}^{\infty}|f|+\int_{x}^{\infty}|f'| \ \ \forall  x \in \mathbf{R}. 
$$
Since $f, f' \in L^1(\mathbf{R})$ it follows that $a(x) \to 0$ as $x \to \infty$.
Similarly, one shows after integrating over $x-1 \le s \le x$ that
$$
|f(x)| \le b(x):=\int_{-\infty}^x|f|+\int_{-\infty}^x |f'| \ \ \forall  x \in \mathbf{R},
$$
and for the same reason as before we have $b(x) \to 0$ as $x \to -\infty$.