Functional Analysis: Problem Sheet 3

Paul D. Mitchener

1. (a) Let v ∈ V , v 6= 0. Define f : Span{v} → F by f (αv) = α. Then

f ∈ V ∗ . By the Hahn-Banach theorem, we have F ∈ V ∗ such that
F |Span(v) = f and kF k = kf k. In particular, F (v) = 1, so F 6= 0.
Thus V ∗ 6= {0}.
(b) Suppose x 6= y. If x and y are not linearly independent, then either
x = αy or y = αx for some α ∈ R, α 6= 1. Suppose that y = αx.
Then x 6= 0, and we can define f : Span{x, y} = Span{x} → F by
f (αx) = α.
If x and y are linearly independent, define f : Span{x, y} → F by
f (αx + βy) = α + β.
Since Span{x, y} is finite-dimensional in either of the above two cases,
f is a bounded linear map. By the Hahn-Banach theorem, we have
F ∈ V ∗ such that F |Span(x,y) = f and kF k = kf k. Note that
f (x) 6= f (y), so F (x) 6= F (y). The result now follows.
(c) Let x ∈ V . Define f : Span{x} → F by f (αx) = αkxk. Then kf k = 1,
|f (x)| = kxk. By the Hahn-Banach theorem, we have F ∈ V ∗ such
that F |Span(x) = f and kF k = kf k = 1. In particular, F (x) = kxk.
So by the above, if |g(x)| ≤ c whenever g ∈ V ∗ with kgk ≤ 1, then
in particular |F (x)| ≤ c. But F (x) = kxk, so kxk ≤ c are required.
2. Let P be the set of all subspaces U ⊆ V such that U ∩ W = {0}. Then P
is a partially ordered set, with relation ⊆.
Let Q be a totally ordered subset of P . Let U0 = ∪U ∈Q U . Certainly
0 ∈ U0 . Let x, y ∈ U0 , α, β ∈ F.
Then x ∈ U1 and y ∈ U2 for some U1 , U2 ∈ Q. Since Q is totally ordered,
either U1 ⊆ U2 or U2 ⊆ U1 . Suppose U1 ⊆ U2 .
Then x, y ∈ U2 . Since U2 is a subspace, we have that αx + βy ∈ U2 ⊆ U0 ,
so U0 is a subspace of V . Since U ∩ W = {0} for all U ∈ Q, we have that
U0 ∩ W = {0}. Hence U0 ∈ P , and U0 is an upper bound for Q.
By Zorn’s lemma, the set P therefore has a maximal element, Z. We claim
that Z + W = V .
Suppose Z + W 6= V . Then we have a vector v ∈ V such that v 6∈ Z + W .
Let Z 0 = {z + αv | z ∈ Z, α ∈ F}.
Then Z 0 is a subspace of V and Z 0 ∩ W = {0}. Further, Z ⊆ Z 0 and
Z 6= Z 0 . This contradicts Z 0 being the maximal element of P .

1
 2

Hence Z + W = V and we are done.

3. By the formula
1
cos(mx) cos(nx) = (cos(m + n)x + cos(m − x)x)
2
we see that A is closed under multiplication. The set A is certainly a
vector space, so A is a subalgebra of CR [0, π]. It contains the constant
functions.
Let x, y ∈ [0, π] with x 6= y. Then cos x 6= cos y, so A separates points.
Hence by the Stone-Weierstrass theorem, the set A is dense in CR [0, π].