In
functional analysis
Functional analysis is a branch of mathematical analysis, the core of which is formed by the study of vector spaces endowed with some kind of limit-related structure (e.g. inner product, norm, topology, etc.) and the linear functions defined ...
, an F-space is a
vector space
In mathematics and physics, a vector space (also called a linear space) is a set whose elements, often called '' vectors'', may be added together and multiplied ("scaled") by numbers called '' scalars''. Scalars are often real numbers, but ...
over the
real or
complex numbers together with a
metric such that
# Scalar multiplication in
is
continuous with respect to
and the standard metric on
or
# Addition in
is continuous with respect to
# The metric is
translation-invariant
In geometry, to translate a geometric figure is to move it from one place to another without rotating it. A translation "slides" a thing by .
In physics and mathematics, continuous translational symmetry is the invariance of a system of equatio ...
; that is,
for all
# The metric space
is
complete.
The operation
is called an F-norm, although in general an F-norm is not required to be homogeneous. By
translation-invariance, the metric is recoverable from the F-norm. Thus, a real or complex F-space is equivalently a real or complex vector space equipped with a complete F-norm.
Some authors use the term rather than , but usually the term "Fréchet space" is reserved for
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 ...
F-spaces.
Some other authors use the term "F-space" as a synonym of "Fréchet space", by which they mean a locally convex complete metrizable
topological vector space.
The metric may or may not necessarily be part of the structure on an F-space; many authors only require that such a space be
metrizable
In topology and related areas of mathematics, a metrizable space is a topological space that is homeomorphic to a metric space. That is, a topological space (X, \mathcal) is said to be metrizable if there is a metric d : X \times X \to , \inf ...
in a manner that satisfies the above properties.
Examples
All
Banach space
In mathematics, more specifically in functional analysis, a Banach space (pronounced ) is a complete normed vector space. Thus, a Banach space is a vector space with a metric that allows the computation of vector length and distance between ve ...
s and
Fréchet space
In functional analysis and related areas of mathematics, Fréchet spaces, named after Maurice Fréchet, are special topological vector spaces.
They are generalizations of Banach spaces ( normed vector spaces that are complete with respect ...
s are F-spaces. In particular, a Banach space is an F-space with an additional requirement that
[Dunford N., Schwartz J.T. (1958). Linear operators. Part I: general theory. Interscience publishers, inc., New York. p. 59]
The
Lp spaces can be made into F-spaces for all
and for
they can be made into locally convex and thus Fréchet spaces and even Banach spaces.
Example 1