In mathematics, a contraction mapping, or contraction or contractor, on a metric space (M, d) is a function f from M to itself, with the property that there is some real number such that for all x and y in M,
In mathematics, a metric space is a set together with a notion of distance between its elements, usually called points. The distance is measured by a function called a metric or distance function. Metric spaces are the most general setting for studying many of the concepts of mathematical analysis and geometry.
In mathematics, the Lp spaces are function spaces defined using a natural generalization of the p-norm for finite-dimensional vector spaces. They are sometimes called Lebesgue spaces, named after Henri Lebesgue, although according to the Bourbaki group they were first introduced by Frigyes Riesz. Lp spaces form an important class of Banach spaces in functional analysis, and of topological vector spaces. Because of their key role in the mathematical analysis of measure and probability spaces, Lebesgue spaces are used also in the theoretical discussion of problems in physics, statistics, economics, finance, engineering, and other disciplines.
In mathematics, the Banach fixed-point theorem is an important tool in the theory of metric spaces; it guarantees the existence and uniqueness of fixed points of certain self-maps of metric spaces, and provides a constructive method to find those fixed points. It can be understood as an abstract formulation of Picard's method of successive approximations. The theorem is named after Stefan Banach (1892–1945) who first stated it in 1922.
In mathematical analysis, Lipschitz continuity, named after German mathematician Rudolf Lipschitz, is a strong form of uniform continuity for functions. Intuitively, a Lipschitz continuous function is limited in how fast it can change: there exists a real number such that, for every pair of points on the graph of this function, the absolute value of the slope of the line connecting them is not greater than this real number; the smallest such bound is called the Lipschitz constant of the function. For instance, every function that has bounded first derivatives is Lipschitz continuous.
In mathematics, an isometry is a distance-preserving transformation between metric spaces, usually assumed to be bijective. The word isometry is derived from the Ancient Greek: ἴσος isos meaning "equal", and μέτρον metron meaning "measure".
This is a glossary of some terms used in Riemannian geometry and metric geometry — it doesn't cover the terminology of differential topology.
In category theory, Met is a category that has metric spaces as its objects and metric maps as its morphisms. This is a category because the composition of two metric maps is again a metric map. It was first considered by Isbell (1964).
In mathematics – specifically, in differential equations – the Picard–Lindelöf theorem gives a set of conditions under which an initial value problem has a unique solution. It is also known as Picard's existence theorem, the Cauchy–Lipschitz theorem, or the existence and uniqueness theorem.
In mathematical analysis, a modulus of continuity is a function ω : [0, ∞] → [0, ∞] used to measure quantitatively the uniform continuity of functions. So, a function f : I → R admits ω as a modulus of continuity if and only if
In mathematics, the Teichmüller space of a (real) topological surface , is a space that parametrizes complex structures on up to the action of homeomorphisms that are isotopic to the identity homeomorphism. Teichmüller spaces are named after Oswald Teichmüller.
In geometric topology, Busemann functions are used to study the large-scale geometry of geodesics in Hadamard spaces and in particular Hadamard manifolds. They are named after Herbert Busemann, who introduced them; he gave an extensive treatment of the topic in his 1955 book "The geometry of geodesics".
In mathematics, two metrics on the same underlying set are said to be equivalent if the resulting metric spaces share certain properties. Equivalence is a weaker notion than isometry; equivalent metrics do not have to be literally the same. Instead, it is one of several ways of generalizing equivalence of norms to general metric spaces.
In metric geometry, the metric envelope or tight span of a metric space M is an injective metric space into which M can be embedded. In some sense it consists of all points "between" the points of M, analogous to the convex hull of a point set in a Euclidean space. The tight span is also sometimes known as the injective envelope or hyperconvex hull of M. It has also been called the injective hull, but should not be confused with the injective hull of a module in algebra, a concept with a similar description relative to the category of R-modules rather than metric spaces.
In metric geometry, an injective metric space, or equivalently a hyperconvex metric space, is a metric space with certain properties generalizing those of the real line and of L∞ distances in higher-dimensional vector spaces. These properties can be defined in two seemingly different ways: hyperconvexity involves the intersection properties of closed balls in the space, while injectivity involves the isometric embeddings of the space into larger spaces. However it is a theorem of Aronszajn & Panitchpakdi (1956) that these two different types of definitions are equivalent.
In the mathematical subject of geometric group theory, the Culler–Vogtmann Outer space or just Outer space of a free group Fn is a topological space consisting of the so-called "marked metric graph structures" of volume 1 on Fn. The Outer space, denoted Xn or CVn, comes equipped with a natural action of the group of outer automorphisms Out(Fn) of Fn. The Outer space was introduced in a 1986 paper of Marc Culler and Karen Vogtmann, and it serves as a free group analog of the Teichmüller space of a hyperbolic surface. Outer space is used to study homology and cohomology groups of Out(Fn) and to obtain information about algebraic, geometric and dynamical properties of Out(Fn), of its subgroups and individual outer automorphisms of Fn. The space Xn can also be thought of as the set of Fn-equivariant isometry types of minimal free discrete isometric actions of Fn on Fn on R-treesT such that the quotient metric graph T/Fn has volume 1.
In mathematics, a quasi-isometry is a function between two metric spaces that respects large-scale geometry of these spaces and ignores their small-scale details. Two metric spaces are quasi-isometric if there exists a quasi-isometry between them. The property of being quasi-isometric behaves like an equivalence relation on the class of metric spaces.
In mathematics, a quasisymmetric homeomorphism between metric spaces is a map that generalizes bi-Lipschitz maps. While bi-Lipschitz maps shrink or expand the diameter of a set by no more than a multiplicative factor, quasisymmetric maps satisfy the weaker geometric property that they preserve the relative sizes of sets: if two sets A and B have diameters t and are no more than distance t apart, then the ratio of their sizes changes by no more than a multiplicative constant. These maps are also related to quasiconformal maps, since in many circumstances they are in fact equivalent.
In mathematical analysis, a metric differential is a generalization of a derivative for a Lipschitz continuous function defined on a Euclidean space and taking values in an arbitrary metric space. With this definition of a derivative, one can generalize Rademacher's theorem to metric space-valued Lipschitz functions.
In mathematics, the Earle–Hamilton fixed point theorem is a result in geometric function theory giving sufficient conditions for a holomorphic mapping of an open domain in a complex Banach space into itself to have a fixed point. The result was proved in 1968 by Clifford Earle and Richard S. Hamilton by showing that, with respect to the Carathéodory metric on the domain, the holomorphic mapping becomes a contraction mapping to which the Banach fixed-point theorem can be applied.
