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.
A sequence in a metric space has at most one limit
Statement
Let be a metric space (Metric space: iff , symmetry, and the triangle inequality; pseudometric and ultrametric) and let be a sequence in (Convergence of a sequence in a metric space: iff in ). If and , then .
So a convergent sequence in a metric space has exactly one limit, and the notation is unambiguous.
Facts & Assumptions
Given: A metric space , a sequence in , and points with and .
Convergence: means that for every rational there is with for all (Convergence of a sequence in a metric space: iff in , Limits and Cauchy sequences of reals); and for all , so in particular and its absolute value is itself (Nonnegativity of a metric is a consequence of the other axioms, not an axiom, Absolute value in an ordered field, Basic properties of the absolute value).
Density of the rationals: strictly between any two reals lies a rational, so below any real there is a rational with (The rationals embed densely in the reals).
Halving. For a real set and . Then , so and (The multiplicative identity is positive, Order is preserved by adding a constant and by adding inequalities, Inverses of positives are positive, and reciprocation reverses order, Ordered field); hence (Sign rules for products and monotonicity of multiplication); and (Field).
Separation (M1) and the triangle inequality (M3) of , together with symmetry (M2) (Metric space: iff , symmetry, and the triangle inequality; pseudometric and ultrametric).
Trichotomy of the order of , and transitivity: and cannot both hold (Complete ordered field (least-upper-bound property), Ordered field).
Adding two inequalities: and give (Order is preserved by adding a constant and by adding inequalities).
Proof
Suppose, for contradiction, that .
By (M1) , and , so by trichotomy; put , a positive real with .
Fix a rational with , and use the convergence hypotheses at to fix with for and for .
Let be any natural with and , for instance ; then and .
By symmetry and the triangle inequality, .
Step 5.1 asserts , which trichotomy forbids; the supposition of step 1.1 is therefore untenable and .
Remarks
- Where each axiom is spent. Separation (M1) is what turns into , and it is the only axiom that distinguishes a metric from a pseudometric (Metric space: iff , symmetry, and the triangle inequality; pseudometric and ultrametric). In a pseudometric space with and , the constant sequence converges to both, so the lemma is false there and this is exactly the step that fails.
- The same argument proves more, namely that a metric space is Hausdorff: the balls and are disjoint. That is recorded separately as Distinct points of a metric space have disjoint balls around them, and uniqueness of limits follows from it as well.
- Instantiating at a rational is not cosmetic. Limits and Cauchy sequences of reals quantifies over rational , so a convergence hypothesis may only be applied at a rational; step 3.1 passes from the real to a rational below it using The rationals embed densely in the reals, which is the sanctioned move.
Depends on
- Convergence of a sequence in a metric space: $x_k \to x$ iff $d(x_k, x) \to 0$ in $\mathbb{R}$
- Metric space: $d(x,y) = 0$ iff $x = y$, symmetry, and the triangle inequality; pseudometric and ultrametric
- Limits and Cauchy sequences of reals
- The rationals embed densely in the reals
- Nonnegativity of a metric is a consequence of the other axioms, not an axiom
- Absolute value in an ordered field
- Basic properties of the absolute value
- The multiplicative identity is positive
- Order is preserved by adding a constant and by adding inequalities
- Inverses of positives are positive, and reciprocation reverses order
- Sign rules for products and monotonicity of multiplication
- Field
- Ordered field
- Complete ordered field (least-upper-bound property)
Used by
- The a priori bound d(x^*, xₙ) ≤ qⁿ d(x₁,x₀)/(1-q) and the a posteriori bound d(x^*, xₙ₊₁) ≤ q d(xₙ₊₁,xₙ)/(1-q) Corollary
- The indiscrete topology on a two-point set is induced by no metric Counterexample
- x ↦ x/2 maps (0,1] into itself, is a 1/2-contraction, and has no fixed point Counterexample
- Complete metric space: every Cauchy sequence converges in the space Definition
- Convergence and cluster points of a sequence in a topological space, sequential continuity, and the sequential closure Definition
- Metrizable space: a topological space whose topology is induced by some metric; metrizability is topological, the metric is not Definition
- Series of vectors in ℝⁿ, absolute convergence, rearrangement, and the set of rearrangement sums Definition
- The derivative and the Riemann integral of a vector-valued function: an intrinsic derivative and a componentwise integral Definition
- FALSE: every Cauchy sequence in a metric space converges False statement
- FALSE: every topology is induced by some metric False statement
- FALSE: if a convergent series in ℝⁿ does not converge absolutely, then every point of ℝⁿ is the sum of some rearrangement of it False statement
- A contraction of a nonempty complete metric space into itself has exactly one fixed point, the limit of the iterates from any starting point Theorem
- A subspace of a complete metric space is complete iff it is closed, and a complete subspace of any metric space is closed Theorem
- A uniformly continuous map from a dense subspace into a complete metric space extends uniquely to a uniformly continuous map on the whole space Theorem
- For n ≥ 1 a sequence in ℝⁿ converges iff each coordinate sequence converges, is Cauchy iff each coordinate sequence is Cauchy, and ℝⁿ is complete in every norm Theorem
- If (Y,d) is complete then Y^X is complete in the uniform metric, and so is C(X,Y) Theorem
- The set of rearrangement sums of a convergent series in ℝⁿ is a nonempty subset of the affine subspace s + Γ^⊥ Theorem
Dependency tree · next 3 levels
Direct dependencies and their dependencies through the next three levels: 51 results over 23 levels. An arrow runs from a result to what uses it, and this result sits at the bottom with a heavier outline. Click the chart to enlarge it.
Sources
- Limit of a sequence (Wikipedia) (standard reference, not scraped)
- Hausdorff space (Wikipedia) (standard reference, not scraped)
- W. Rudin, Principles of Mathematical Analysis, 3rd ed., Ch. 3 (standard reference, not scraped)