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LemmaStatement: AI-adaptedProof: AI-generatedprecheck passjudge pass (z-ai/glm-5.2)audited 2026-07-26
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min⁡(d,1) and d/(1+d) are metrics uniformly equivalent to d, so every metric space carries a bounded metric with the same topology

Statement

Let (X,d) be a metric space (Metric space: d(x,y)=0 iff x=y, symmetry, and the triangle inequality; pseudometric and ultrametric) and define, for x,y∈X,

d′(x,y):=min⁡{ d(x,y), 1 },d′′(x,y):=d(x,y)1+d(x,y).

Both are well defined: d(x,y)≥0 (Nonnegativity of a metric is a consequence of the other axioms, not an axiom), so 1+d(x,y)>0 and is invertible, and the minimum of a two-element set of reals exists (Every nonempty finite set of reals has a maximum and a minimum, Maximum and minimum of a set). Then:

  1. d′ and d′′ are metrics on X.
  2. d′(x,y)≤1 and d′′(x,y)<1 for all x,y; hence (X,d′) and (X,d′′) are bounded metric spaces (Bounded subset, diameter, distance from a point to a set, and distance between two sets in a metric space), and if X≠∅ then diam⁡(X)≤1 for both.
  3. d′ and d′′ are each uniformly equivalent to d, hence topologically equivalent to it (Topologically, uniformly and Lipschitz equivalent metrics on a set, Lipschitz equivalence implies uniform equivalence implies topological equivalence).

Consequently every metric space carries a bounded metric with exactly the same topology, so boundedness cannot be read off the topology alone.

Facts & Assumptions

Given: A metric space (X,d), points x,y,z∈X, a real ε>0, and the two functions φ1(t):=min⁡{t,1} and φ2(t):=t(1+t)−1, defined for reals t≥0, so that d′=φ1∘d and d′′=φ2∘d.

[L2]

The minimum of a two-element set of reals exists, is one of the two elements, and is a lower bound of both (Every nonempty finite set of reals has a maximum and a minimum, Maximum and minimum of a set).

[L3]

0<1 (The multiplicative identity is positive); a sum of positives is positive and inequalities may be added, in the strict form of Order is preserved by adding a constant and by adding inequalities and, with the case of equality settled by totality, in the nonstrict form (Ordered field, Complete ordered field (least-upper-bound property)).

[L4]

Inverses and order: u>0 gives u−1>0, and 0<u<v gives 0<v−1<u−1 (Inverses of positives are positive, and reciprocation reverses order); Inverses of positives are positive, and reciprocation reverses order states only those strict forms, so the nonstrict version used below, that 0<u≤v gives 0<v−1≤u−1, is that statement together with the case u=v, in which the two inverses are equal, the order being total (Ordered field, Complete ordered field (least-upper-bound property)). Multiplying an inequality by a positive preserves it, in the strict form of Sign rules for products and monotonicity of multiplication and, with the same equality case, in the nonstrict form; and uu−1=1 (Field).

[L5]

Bounded subset and diameter: A is bounded when it lies in some ball, and for nonempty bounded A the diameter is the least upper bound of the distances, so any upper bound of those distances bounds the diameter (Bounded subset, diameter, distance from a point to a set, and distance between two sets in a metric space, Open ball, closed ball and sphere in a metric space, Suprema and infima are unique).

Proof

technique · direct
1.1

Properties of φ1 on t≥0: it is one of t and 1, so 0≤φ1(t)≤t and φ1(t)≤1; φ1(t)=0 exactly when t=0, since 1≠0; it is nondecreasing, because for 0≤s≤t the value φ1(s) is s≤t or 1, and in both cases it is a lower bound of {t,1}, hence at most φ1(t); and it is subadditive, since for s,t≥0 either one of s,t is ≥1, and then φ1(s)+φ1(t)≥1≥φ1(s+t), or both are <1, and then φ1(s)+φ1(t)=s+t≥φ1(s+t).

L2L3
1.2

Properties of φ2 on t≥0: here 1+t≥1>0, so (1+t)−1>0 and (1+t)−1≤1, whence 0≤φ2(t)≤t; also t<1+t gives φ2(t)<(1+t)(1+t)−1=1; φ2(t)=0 exactly when t=0; φ2 is strictly increasing, because φ2(t)=1−(1+t)−1 and 0≤s<t gives 0<1+s<1+t, hence (1+t)−1<(1+s)−1; and it is subadditive, since for s,t≥0 one has 0<1+s≤1+s+t and 0<1+t≤1+s+t, so φ2(s+t)=s(1+s+t)−1+t(1+s+t)−1≤s(1+s)−1+t(1+t)−1=φ2(s)+φ2(t).

L3L4
1.3

Both d′ and d′′ are symmetric, being φi applied to the symmetric function d, and both vanish exactly on the diagonal, since φi(t)=0 exactly when t=0 and d(x,y)=0 exactly when x=y.

L1
2.1

d′ is a metric: (M1) and (M2) are step 1.3, and (M3) follows because d(x,z)≤d(x,y)+d(y,z) with φ1 nondecreasing and subadditive on nonnegatives gives d′(x,z)=φ1(d(x,z))≤φ1(d(x,y)+d(y,z))≤φ1(d(x,y))+φ1(d(y,z))=d′(x,y)+d′(y,z).

step 1.1step 1.3L1
2.2

d′′ is a metric: identically, using that φ2 is increasing and subadditive on nonnegatives, d′′(x,z)≤φ2(d(x,y)+d(y,z))≤d′′(x,y)+d′′(y,z).

step 1.2step 1.3L1
2.3

Boundedness: d′(x,y)≤1<2 and d′′(x,y)<1<2 for all x,y, so if X≠∅ then fixing any x0∈X gives X⊆Bd′(x0,2) and X⊆Bd′′(x0,2), while X=∅ is bounded outright; and 1 is an upper bound of all the distances, so diam⁡(X)≤1 in both metrics when X≠∅. This is claim 2.

step 1.1step 1.2L3L5
3.1

d′ is uniformly equivalent to d: given ε>0, take δ:=ε, so that d(x,y)<δ gives d′(x,y)≤d(x,y)<ε; and take δ′:=min⁡{ε,1}>0, so that d′(x,y)<δ′≤1 forces φ1(d(x,y))≠1, hence d′(x,y)=d(x,y) by [L2], hence d(x,y)<δ′≤ε.

step 1.1step 2.1L2L3
3.2

d′′ is uniformly equivalent to d: given ε>0, take δ:=ε, so that d(x,y)<δ gives d′′(x,y)≤d(x,y)<ε; and take δ′:=φ2(ε)>0, so that d′′(x,y)<δ′ forces d(x,y)<ε, since d(x,y)≥ε would give φ2(d(x,y))≥φ2(ε)=δ′ by monotonicity.

step 1.2step 2.2L4
4.1

Uniform equivalence implies topological equivalence, so d′ and d′′ have exactly the metric topology of d; this completes claim 3.

step 3.1step 3.2L6
5.1

Claims 1, 2 and 3 hold by steps 2.1 and 2.2, step 2.3, and steps 3.1, 3.2 and 4.1; hence every metric space carries a bounded metric inducing the same topology.

step 2.1step 2.2step 2.3step 4.1∎

Remarks

  • Two constructions rather than one, on purpose. min⁡{d,1} is the shorter argument and is the one used by the counterexamples on the companion page; d/(1+d) is strictly less than 1 everywhere and is strictly increasing in d, which makes it the better behaved of the two when the value of the metric is to be compared, and it is the form that generalises to countable products.
  • Neither is Lipschitz equivalent to d when d is unbounded. A Lipschitz bound αd≤d′ with α>0 would force d≤α−1 everywhere, which fails as soon as d takes arbitrarily large values; the real line is the witness (On R the metrics ∣x−y∣ and min⁡(∣x−y∣,1) are uniformly but not Lipschitz equivalent ↗).
  • Boundedness is therefore not a topological property, which is recorded as FALSE: boundedness of a metric space is determined by its topology with the real line as witness.
  • The bound diam⁡(X)≤1 need not be an equality, and the two constructions differ on when it is. For a one-point space both new metrics are identically 0. For d′=min⁡{d,1} the bound is attained as soon as d takes some value ≥1, since then d′ takes the value 1 itself, and the companion page computes one such case. For d′′=d/(1+d) the value 1 is never taken at all, by claim 2, so on a space where d is bounded the diameter in d′′ is strictly below 1: for instance on a two-point space with d=1 the new distance is 1/2.

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