Questions tagged [metric-spaces]
A metric space is a pair $(X,d)$, where $X$ is a set and $d:X \times X \to \mathbb{R}$ satisfies the following conditions for all $x,y,z \in X$. (Symmetry) $d(x,y)=d(y,x)$. (Identity of Indiscernibles) $d(x,y)=0$ if and only if $x=y$. (Triangle Inequality) $d(x,y)+d(y,z) \geq d(x,z)$.
442 questions
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A property for maps between metric spaces
Let $X, Y$ be metric spaces with distance functions denoted by $d_X, d_Y$ respectively. Consider a map $f \colon X \rightarrow Y$. I am interested in the following property: for every $x,y,z \in X$, ...
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Divergence functions in hyperbolic groups
Gromov hyperbolicity has many characterizations, one of them being the existence of a super-linear divergence function, see definition below.
We note that in $\mathbb{R}^2$ there is no divergence ...
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Is the topology generated by this weaker notion of a metric necessarily metrisable?
The triangle inequality seems much stronger than necessary for a lot of analysis. So I will define a "loose metric" on a set $X$ to be a function $d \colon X \times X \to [0,\infty)$ with ...
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Metrizing pointwise convergence of *sequences* of functionals in a dual space
This question was asked by myself on the math stackexchange a few days ago. I thought I'd repeat it here:
Let $X$ be a normed, real vector space of uncountable dimension. Let $X^*$ denote the set of ...
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The space of analytic associative operations
This question is a follow-up to this old one of mine.
Let $\mathcal{A}$ be the set of functions $\star:\mathbb{R}^2\rightarrow\mathbb{R}$ which are associative and $C^\omega$ (real analytic entire) in ...
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Bi-Lipschitz embeddings of compact doubling spaces
Suppose that $(X,\rho)$ is a compact doubling metric space. Does there necessarily exist an $\epsilon>0$ and a maximal $\epsilon$-net $\{x_i\}_{i=1}^n\subseteq X$ such that the map
$$
\begin{...
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Example of a metrizable space that is not an ANR
I have been looking for an example of a metrizable space that is not an absolute neighborhood retract (ANR).
Recall that a metrizable space $X$ is called an ANR if there exists an open set $U$ in a ...
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Compactness of the unit ball in the space of Radon measures w.r.t. the Kantorovich-Rubinstein norm
This question was posted previously but has not attracted any responses so I am repharising it in a slightly different language hoping to reach a wider community
Let $(X,d)$ be a pointed metric space ...
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Trans-universality for finite-dimensional Banach space
In addition to a specific problem Trans-universality for finitely generated groups, I posted also its general form. It should not hurt to provide another special case:
QUESTION: does there exist a ...
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Optimal transport: the existence of an optimal pair of $c$-conjugate functions
$\newcommand{\diff}{ \, \mathrm d}$
Let
$X,Y$ be Polish spaces,
$\mathcal C_b(X)$ the space of all real-valued bounded continuous functions on $X$,
$\mathcal P(X)$ the space of Borel probability ...
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What is a metric for weak convergence of finite measures on a non compact, complete and separable metric space?
Consider the set of finite positive measures on a complete, separable, but not compact, metric space $S$, endowed with the topology under which a sequence of finite positive measures $\{\mu_n\}$ ...
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Best way to hang a lampshade
I have a lampshade which looks like a demi-sphere but with irregular border. The goal is to hang it to the ceiling so that the border looks as horizontal as possible.
In order to formalize this, let ...
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Do Gromov hyperbolic spaces admit concical geodesic bicombings?
Consider a metric space $(X,d)$ with a distinguished selection of geodesics, i.e. a geodesic bicombing $\sigma:X\times X\times [0,1]\rightarrow X$. We call a geodesic bicombing conical if it ...
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Defining area / n-volume of a finite metric space
Let $(X, d)$ be a finite metric space. I've seen several answers to the question when can $X$ be isometrically embedded into Euclidean space (or, more generally, Riemannian manifold). I'm interested ...
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Are two metric spaces isometric if they have the same $\varepsilon$-covering and $\varepsilon$-packing numbers for all $\varepsilon>0$?
Let $(X, d)$ be a compact metric space.
We say that $\{x_1, \cdots, x_n\} \subseteq X$ is an $\varepsilon$-covering of $X$ if for any $x \in X$, there exists $i \in \{1, \ldots, n\}$ such that $d(x, ...
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A generalization of metric spaces
Let $(L,<,+)$ be a structure such that (1) $<$ is a linear order of $L$, (2) $L$ has a least element 0, (3) $+$ is a binary function on $L$ that behaves like addition of positive real numbers, i....
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Iterating the dimensional kernel of a metric space
Fix $n\in \mathbb N$. Let $X$ be a separable metric space of (inductive) dimension $n$. Let
\begin{align}
\Lambda(X)&=\{x\in X:X\text{ is $n$-dimensional at }x\}\\ \\
\Lambda^2(X)&=\Lambda(\...
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When does a metric space have "infinite metric dimension"? (Definition of metric dimension)
Definition 1 A subset $B$ of a metric space $(M,d)$ is called a metric basis for $M$ if and only if $$[\forall b \in B,\,d(x,b)=d(y,b)] \implies x = y \,.$$
Definition 2 A metric space $(M,d)$ has &...
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Generalized Triangle Inequality for Snowflakes
Let $p>0$ and consider a metric space $(X,d)$. I have recently come across a problem where the space $(X,d^q)$ provides is natural; where $q>1$. However, the triangle inquality break (i.e. it ...
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Is the space of Radon measures a Polish space or at least separable?
Background: I work on a SPDE problem where in order to apply Prokhorov's theorem I need that some measure space is Polish space. And additionaly it would be good if that space is Banach space. Earlier ...
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Complexity for determining whether a given metric space is hyperconvex?
Suppose I am given a finite metric space as a distance matrix. What is the complexity of determining whether this metric space is hyperconvex?
Definition: A metric space is said to be hyperconvex if ...
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Are two metric spaces isometric if they have the same $\varepsilon$-covering numbers for all $\varepsilon>0$?
Let $(E, d)$ be a metric space. For $\varepsilon>0$, we define two notions of $\varepsilon$-covering number as follows, i.e.,
$N_\varepsilon^o (E)$ is the smallest number of open balls whose radii ...
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Lipschitz mappings, covering dimension
Is there a compact metric space $X$ of covering dimension $2$ without a Lipschitz surjection on $[0,1]^2$?
For a space $X$ with Hausdorff dimension greater than $2$, we have a negative answer (see ...
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Is every 1-Lipschitz homeomorphism $f:X\to X$ from a compact metric space to itself an isometry?
I found a statement involving a homeomorphism $f:X\to X$ of a compact metric space $X$, with Lipshitz coefficient 1, i.e., a non-expansive map, and cannot think of an example where $f$ is not an ...
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Does a compact contractible metric space have a point that is fixed by all isometries?
Let $(X,d)$ be a compact and contractible metric space. Let $\operatorname{Isom}(X)=\{\phi\colon X\to X\}$ be its group of isometries.
Question: Is there a point $x\in X$ fixed by all $\phi\in\...
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Graphs admitting an 1-Lipschitz map from edge mid-points to vertices
Let $G=(V,E)$ be a graph. A 1-Lipschitz vertex projection is a map $p: E \to V$ such that $p(e)$ is always an end-vertex of $e$, and if $e,f$ have a common end-vertex, then $p(e)$ and $p(f)$ coincide ...
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Random covering on rectangles
Let $\mathrm{Rect}$ denote the class of axis-parallel rectangles $r: \mathbb{R}^2 \to \{0,1\}$, assigning $1$ if the point is inside the rectangle and $0$ otherwise. Let $\mathcal{D}$ be a ...
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Expected value of the projective metric between random orthogonal Stiefel matrices in $\mathbb{R}^{N \times k}$ equals $1 - \frac{k}{N}$
This is a cross-post from this other question that I asked ~1 month ago in the mathematics forum, with no reaction. I am still stuck on this, looking for references or approaches to proofs. I hope I ...
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Bilipschitz embedding of the unit ball of $c_0$ into $\ell_1$
This is a follow-up to this question of mine.
It is well-known that the Banach space $\ell_1$ does not contain any isomorphic copies of $c_0$. One can even go further and show that $\ell_1$ does not ...
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0
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Absolute continuity of the volume growth in a metric space
Let $(M,d)$ be a metric space (separable, complete, better?) and let $\mu$ be a ($\sigma$-additive, positive, locally finite, regular?) Borel measure on $M$. For $x\in M$ consider the volume growth ...
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Prove that $(v^Tx)^2−(u^Tx)^2\leq \sqrt{1−(u^Tv)^2}$ for any unit vectors $u, v, x$
I believe I found a complicated proof by bounding the spectral norm $||uu^T-vv^T||^2_2:=\max_{||x||=1}|(u^Tx)^2-(v^Tx)^2|$.
Using the fact that $dist(x,y):=\sin|x-y|$ is a distance function over unit ...
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Reference request: "Tangent relation" in metric spaces
Let $X,Y$ be metric spaces. Let $f,g : X \to Y$ be two maps and $x_0 \in X$. Let us say that $f$ and $g$ are tangent at $x_0$ if the following condition is satisfied: For every $\epsilon > 0$ there ...
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Trigonometry / Euclidean Geometry for natural numbers?
Let $d(a,b) = 1 - \frac{2\gcd(a,b)^3}{ab(a+b)}$ be a metric on natural numbers without $0$.
The metric space $X = \{x_0,x_1,\cdots,x_n\},n>2$ is isometric embeddable in $\mathbb{R}^n$ if and only ...
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Do cycle graphs embed isometrically in spheres?
I recently came across, what seems to be a folklore. Namely, that cycle graphs embeds isometrically into spheres $S^n(r)$, for some $n\in \mathbb{N}_+$ and some $r>0$. However, I could not track ...
2
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Complex Borel measures: does $\mu_n \to \mu$ weakly imply $|\mu|(\Theta) \le \liminf_n |\mu_n|(\Theta)$ for every open subset $\Theta$?
Let
$\Omega$ be a metric space,
$C_b(\Omega)$ the space of all real-valued bounded continuous functions on $\Omega$, and
$\mathcal{M}(\Omega)$ the space of all finite signed Borel measures on $\Omega$...
0
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1
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Is this a smooth approximation to the $\ell$-infinity distance actually a quasi-metric?
The $\|\cdot\|_{\infty}$-norm on $\mathbb{R}^n$ for $n\in \mathbb{Z}^+$ is not a smooth function. However, I came across this post which essentially says that a pointwise approximation to the maximum ...
3
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Isometric embedding of 4-element metric spaces into Riemannian manifolds and the curvature
I came across this question Preferred embedding of finite metric spaces in riemaniann manifolds of given dimension. In one of the answers it was stated that it is always possible to isometrically ...
3
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There exists differentiable curves arbitrarily close to the continuous ones
Let $M$ be a Riemannian manifold; if $d$ is the distance on $M$, we can consider the distance $D$ between any two continuous curves given by $D(c, \gamma) = \max _{t \in [0,1]} d(c(t), \gamma(t))$.
...
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Generalization of a bounded variation
Let $(X, d)$ be a metric space. We will say that $\gamma \colon [a,b] \to X$ is of bounded variation, if
\begin{equation}
V(\gamma) = \sup_{a=t_0 < \cdots < t_n < b} \sum_{i=1}^n d( \gamma(...
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Vague convergence: confusion about the regularity of a signed Radon measure and that of its variation
I'm reading a proof of below theorem from this paper.
Theorem A.3. Let $\Omega$ be a locally compact normal Hausdorff space. Let $\left\{\mu_n\right\} \cup\{\mu\} \subset \mathcal{M}(\Omega)$ and ...
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Metric spaces containing a topological disc
It is well-known that every connected, locally connected compact metrizable space $X$ contains an arc, that is, a subspace homeomorphic to $[0,1]$. Are there topological properties we can add to these ...
3
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1
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Is this map (from the space of probability densities to the Wasserstein space) Lipschitz?
Let $p \in [1, \infty)$. Let $\mathcal P_p(\mathbb R^d)$ be the space of all Borel probability measures on $\mathbb R^d$ with finite $p$-th moments. Let $D_p$ be the collection of all Borel measurable ...
3
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If $X,X'$ have the same $\varepsilon$-packing numbers and $f:X \to X'$ surjective $1$-Lipschitz, then $f$ is an isometry
Let $(X, d)$ be a compact metric space.
We say that $\{x_1, \cdots, x_n\} \subseteq X$ is an $\varepsilon$-covering of $X$ if for any $x \in X$, there exists $i \in \{1, \ldots, n\}$ such that $d(x, ...
6
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1
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Extending a partially defined metric on a metrizable space
Let $X$ be a metrizable topological space, $A\subseteq X\times X$ a nonempty closed subset which is reflexive, symmetric and transitive, $d:A\to \mathbb{R}_+$ a continuous function that satisfies the ...
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Chess pieces metrics in higher dimensions
A couple of days ago, I was thinking about applying the knight (the well-known piece of chess) metric to any cubic lattice $\mathbb{N}^k$, $k \in \mathbb{N}-\{0,1\}$.
I suddenly realized that, from $k ...
6
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1
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m-point-homogeneous, but not (m+1)-point-homogeneous
It is straightforward to check that the discrete cube $Q=\{0,1\}^n$ with $\ell^1$-metric is 3-point-homogeneous, but not 4-point-homogeneous (assuming $n$ is large).
In other words, if $A\subset Q$ ...
7
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3
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340
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Hyperbolic space embeds into Wasserstein space
Fix a positive integer $n$, let $\mathbb{H}^n$ be the $n$-dimensional hyperbolic space, $r>0$, $x\in \mathbb{H}^n$ and consider the closed (compact) geodesic ball $B_{\mathbb{H}^n}(x,r)$. Are ...
3
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0
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Is every weakly $1$-dimensional space embeddable in the plane?
A $1$-dimensional (separable metric) space $X$ is weakly $1$-dimensional if $$\Lambda(X)=\{x\in X:X\text{ is 1-dimensional at }x\}$$
is zero-dimensional (i.e. the space $\Lambda(X)$ has a basis of ...
8
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3
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937
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BCT equivalent to DC
Do you know where I can find proof of equivalence Baire Category Theorem and DC (Axiom of Dependent Choice)? It is well known fact but I can't find appropriate literature with the proof.
2
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The world of non-weak*-topologies on $\mathcal{P}(X)$
Let $X$ be a metrizable space and consider $\mathcal{P}(X)$, the set of all probability measures on $X$.
Typically, the weak*-topology is considered on $\mathcal{P}(X)$, which is a very natural ...