Toy theorem

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In mathematics, a toy theorem is a simplified instance (special case) of a more general theorem, which can be useful in providing a handy representation of the general theorem, or a framework for proving the general theorem. One way of obtaining a toy theorem is by introducing some simplifying assumptions in a theorem. [1]

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In many cases, a toy theorem is used to illustrate the claim of a theorem, while in other cases, studying the proofs of a toy theorem (derived from a non-trivial theorem) can provide insight that would be hard to obtain otherwise.

Toy theorems can also have educational value as well. For example, after presenting a theorem (with, say, a highly non-trivial proof), one can sometimes give some assurance that the theorem really holds, by proving a toy version of the theorem. [1]

Examples

A toy theorem of the Brouwer fixed-point theorem is obtained by restricting the dimension to one. In this case, the Brouwer fixed-point theorem follows almost immediately from the intermediate value theorem. [1]

Another example of toy theorem is Rolle's theorem, which is obtained from the mean value theorem by equating the function values at the endpoints.

See also

Related Research Articles

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Recursive definition

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In mathematical analysis, the Kakutani fixed-point theorem is a fixed-point theorem for set-valued functions. It provides sufficient conditions for a set-valued function defined on a convex, compact subset of a Euclidean space to have a fixed point, i.e. a point which is mapped to a set containing it. The Kakutani fixed point theorem is a generalization of the Brouwer fixed point theorem. The Brouwer fixed point theorem is a fundamental result in topology which proves the existence of fixed points for continuous functions defined on compact, convex subsets of Euclidean spaces. Kakutani's theorem extends this to set-valued functions.

In mathematics, Kuiper's theorem is a result on the topology of operators on an infinite-dimensional, complex Hilbert space H. It states that the space GL(H) of invertible bounded endomorphisms of H is such that all maps from any finite complex Y to GL(H) are homotopic to a constant, for the norm topology on operators.

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In computability theory, the halting problem is the problem of determining, from a description of an arbitrary computer program and an input, whether the program will finish running, or continue to run forever. Alan Turing proved in 1936 that a general algorithm to solve the halting problem for all possible program-input pairs cannot exist.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "toy theorem". planetmath.org. Retrieved 2019-11-26.

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