Alphabeta Math
ExampleConstruction: Literature-sourcedVerification: AI-adaptedPipeline-generatedaudited 2026-09-22
How statement and proof provenance work

The first chip identifies the source of the statement or construction; the second identifies the source of its local proof or verification.

  • Literature-sourced: the exact statement appears in a cited source; only wording and notation differ.
  • AI-adapted: a semantically identical restatement of literature-sourced material, modulo indexing, notation, and boundary cases adopted by the library.
  • AI-generated: a genuinely novel statement formulated by AI, with no source for the claim itself.

These labels describe origin, not correctness: citations and verification chips remain separate evidence.

Continuous functions form a commutative Banach algebra

Example

Let K be a nonempty compact Hausdorff space and let C(K,C):={f:KC:f continuous} carry the supremum norm f:=supxKf(x). Then C(K,C) is a unital commutative complex Banach algebra (Unital Banach algebra), and for every f its spectrum is the image of f:

σ(f)=f[K]={f(x):xK}

(Spectrum and resolvent set in a Banach algebra).

Facts & Assumptions

Given: A nonempty compact Hausdorff space K, the algebra C(K,C) with pointwise operations and the supremum norm, and a function fC(K,C).

[L1]

The image of a compact set under a continuous map is compact, and a continuous real-valued function on a nonempty compact space attains a maximum and a minimum (A continuous image of a compact space is compact; a continuous real-valued map on a nonempty compact space attains a maximum and a minimum; and a continuous bijection from a compact space to a Hausdorff space is a homeomorphism).

[L2]

A uniformly Cauchy sequence of complex-valued functions on a set converges uniformly to a function on that set (A sequence of complex-valued functions converges uniformly if and only if it is uniformly Cauchy). If the domain is a topological space and all the functions are continuous, the limit is continuous: given x and ε>0, choose one function uniformly within ε/3 of the limit and then use its continuity at x.

[L3]

A unital complex Banach algebra is an associative complex algebra with submultiplicative complete norm and unit of norm one; zρ(a) exactly when z1a is invertible, and σ(a) is its complement (Unital Banach algebra, Spectrum and resolvent set in a Banach algebra).

Verification

technique · direct
1.1

The supremum norm is finite on every f: f is continuous and real-valued on the nonempty compact K, so it attains a maximum by [L1]; the pointwise operations make C(K,C) a commutative associative complex algebra with unit the constant function 1, and fgfg holds because f(x)g(x)fg for every x while 1(x)=1 gives 1=1.

L1L3algebra
2.1

Completeness: a -Cauchy sequence (fn) is uniformly Cauchy, so by [L2] it converges uniformly to a continuous f; uniform convergence is convergence in the supremum norm, so C(K,C) is complete.

step 1.1L2
2.2

Spectral inclusion: if λf[K] then m:=infxKλf(x)>0: the function xλf(x) is continuous on the nonempty compact K and attains its minimum m by [L1], and m=0 would mean λ=f(x) for some x. Hence 1/(λf) is a bounded continuous function with 1/(λf)1/m, and it is a two-sided inverse of λ1f; so λρ(f).

step 1.1L1L3
3.1

Spectral equality: conversely, if λ=f(x0) for some x0K and g were an inverse of λ1f, then evaluating the identity g(λ1f)=1 at x0 would give g(x0)0=1, impossible; hence λσ(f). Combined with [step 2.2], σ(f)=f[K].

step 1.1step 2.2L3

Depends on

Used by

Dependency tree · two levels

31 results within two dependency steps of this one, each drawn at its shortest distance from it. An arrow runs from a result to what uses it, so the chart reads left to right and ends at this result, which carries a heavier outline. Every node is a link to that result. Click elsewhere on the chart to enlarge it.

Sources