In
mathematics
Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
, a
set
Set, The Set, SET or SETS may refer to:
Science, technology, and mathematics Mathematics
*Set (mathematics), a collection of elements
*Category of sets, the category whose objects and morphisms are sets and total functions, respectively
Electro ...
of
function
Function or functionality may refer to:
Computing
* Function key, a type of key on computer keyboards
* Function model, a structured representation of processes in a system
* Function object or functor or functionoid, a concept of object-orie ...
s with
domain
A domain is a geographic area controlled by a single person or organization. Domain may also refer to:
Law and human geography
* Demesne, in English common law and other Medieval European contexts, lands directly managed by their holder rather ...
is called a and is said to (or just ) if for any two distinct elements
and
of
there exists a function
such that
[.]
Separating sets can be used to formulate a version of the
Stone–Weierstrass theorem
In mathematical analysis, the Weierstrass approximation theorem states that every continuous function defined on a closed interval (mathematics), interval can be uniform convergence, uniformly approximated as closely as desired by a polynomial fun ...
for real-valued functions on a
compact Hausdorff space
In mathematics, specifically general topology, compactness is a property that seeks to generalize the notion of a closed and bounded subset of Euclidean space. The idea is that a compact space has no "punctures" or "missing endpoints", i.e., it ...
with the topology of
uniform convergence
In the mathematical field of analysis, uniform convergence is a mode of convergence of functions stronger than pointwise convergence. A sequence of functions (f_n) converges uniformly to a limiting function f on a set E as the function domain i ...
. It states that any subalgebra of this space of functions is dense if and only if it separates points. This is the version of the theorem originally proved by
Marshall H. Stone.
Examples
* The
singleton set
In mathematics, a singleton (also known as a unit set or one-point set) is a set with exactly one element. For example, the set \ is a singleton whose single element is 0.
Properties
Within the framework of Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory, the a ...
consisting of the
identity function
Graph of the identity function on the real numbers
In mathematics, an identity function, also called an identity relation, identity map or identity transformation, is a function that always returns the value that was used as its argument, unc ...
on
separates the points of
* If
is a
T1 normal topological space
Normal(s) or The Normal(s) may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Normal'' (2003 film), starring Jessica Lange and Tom Wilkinson
* ''Normal'' (2007 film), starring Carrie-Anne Moss, Kevin Zegers, Callum Keith Rennie, and Andrew Airlie
* ''Norma ...
, then
Urysohn's lemma
In topology, Urysohn's lemma is a lemma that states that a topological space is normal if and only if any two disjoint closed subsets can be separated by a continuous function. Section 15.
Urysohn's lemma is commonly used to construct contin ...
states that the set
of
continuous function
In mathematics, a continuous function is a function such that a small variation of the argument induces a small variation of the value of the function. This implies there are no abrupt changes in value, known as '' discontinuities''. More preci ...
s on
with
real (or
complex
Complex commonly refers to:
* Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe
** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...
) values separates points on
* If
is a
locally convex
In functional analysis and related areas of mathematics, locally convex topological vector spaces (LCTVS) or locally convex spaces are examples of topological vector spaces (TVS) that generalize normed spaces. They can be defined as topological vec ...
Hausdorff topological vector space over
or
then the
Hahn–Banach separation theorem implies that
continuous linear functional
In functional analysis and related areas of mathematics, a continuous linear operator or continuous linear mapping is a continuous linear transformation between topological vector spaces.
An operator between two normed spaces is a bounded linear ...
s on
separate points.
See also
*
References
{{mathlogic-stub
Set theory