Alphabeta Math
LemmaStatement: AI-adaptedProof: AI-generatedprecheck passjudge pass (z-ai/glm-5.2)audited 2026-07-27
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.

Dictionary: for A⊆R with the metric d(x,y)=∣x−y∣, continuity and uniform continuity of f:A→R agree with the metric-space notions, the Lipschitz and Hölder conditions are the metric ones instantiated, and a subset of R is compact in the open-cover sense of R exactly when it is a compact metric subspace

Statement

Let A⊆R carry the subspace metric of the usual metric dR(x,y)=∣x−y∣ of R, that is dA(x,y)=∣x−y∣ for x,y∈A (The absolute value makes R a metric space: d(x,y)=∣x−y∣ is a metric, its open balls are the intervals (x−r,x+r), and it is unbounded, Isometry, isometric embedding, and the subspace metric on a subset), and let f:A→R, regarded also as a map of metric spaces (A,dA)→(R,dR). Then the R-native notions of this page and the metric-space notions of the earlier pages are the same notions, in the following five senses.

  1. Continuity. For every c∈A: f is continuous at c in the sense of Continuity of f:A→R at a point of A and on A: the ε-δ condition, its agreement with lim⁡x→cf(x)=f(c) at a limit point, and continuity at an isolated point if and only if f is continuous at c in the sense of Continuity of a map between metric spaces, at a point and globally, in the ε-δ form. Consequently f is continuous on A if and only if it is continuous as a map of metric spaces.
  2. Uniform continuity. f is uniformly continuous on A in the sense of Uniform continuity of f:A→R: one δ serving every pair of points of A if and only if it is uniformly continuous as a map of metric spaces (Uniform continuity of a map of metric spaces: one δ serving every point).
  3. Lipschitz. For a real L≥0: f is Lipschitz with constant L as a map of metric spaces (Lipschitz map, α-Hölder map for rational 0<α≤1, and contraction) if and only if ∣f(x)−f(x′)∣≤L ∣x−x′∣for all x,x′∈A. This displayed condition is what "f is Lipschitz with constant L" means for a real function on A in this library; no second definition is made.
  4. Hölder. For a rational α with 0<α≤1 and a real C≥0: f is α-Hölder with constant C as a map of metric spaces if and only if ∣f(x)−f(x′)∣≤C ∣x−x′∣αfor all x,x′∈A, the power being the rational power of a nonnegative base (Rational powers ar of a positive base).
  5. Compactness, in both senses used in this library. For K⊆R with the subspace metric dK:

Two consequences are recorded, since they are the reason the dictionary is stated as a lemma rather than as a remark.

  1. The regularity hierarchy transfers verbatim. By clauses 1 to 4 and Contraction implies Lipschitz implies uniformly continuous implies continuous; every Hölder map is uniformly continuous, and a Lipschitz map on a bounded space is Hölder for every exponent: a Lipschitz f:A→R is uniformly continuous on A; an α-Hölder f with rational 0<α≤1 is uniformly continuous on A; a uniformly continuous f is continuous on A; and if A is nonempty and bounded, a Lipschitz f is α-Hölder for every rational α with 0<α≤1. No strictness is claimed here, and none is claimed there.
  2. Cauchy sequences transfer. A sequence (xk) with terms in A is Cauchy in (A,dA) (Cauchy sequence in a metric space) if and only if it is Cauchy as a sequence of reals (Limits and Cauchy sequences of reals); so by clause 2 and A uniformly continuous map sends Cauchy sequences to Cauchy sequences, a uniformly continuous f:A→R carries Cauchy sequences of A to Cauchy sequences of R.

Why this lemma exists, and why it is a lemma. Three results of this page — The image of a compact subset of R under a continuous real function is compact, Extreme value theorem: a continuous real function on a nonempty compact subset of R attains a greatest and a least value and Heine-Cantor in R: a continuous real function on a compact subset of R is uniformly continuous, proved R-natively from sequential compactness — are stated a second time here, having already been proved metric-generally as The image of a compact metric space under a continuous map is compact, and so is the image of any compact subset, A continuous real-valued function on a nonempty compact metric space is bounded and attains a greatest and a least value and Heine-Cantor: a continuous map from a compact metric space to any metric space is uniformly continuous. The duplication is deliberate: the R-native proofs run through A subset of R is compact if and only if it is closed and bounded and A subset of R is compact iff it is sequentially compact, which are order-based, while the metric proofs run through the cover machinery of metric spaces. This item is the single place in the library where that duplication is acknowledged, and clauses 1 and 5 are what make the two families of statements literally the same statements. It is a lemma, and not a remark, precisely so that later pages can cite it and move between the two vocabularies.

Clause 5 closes a second seam. The phrase compact subset of R is defined twice in this library — metrically, as compactness of the metric subspace (Open cover, subcover, compact metric space, and compact subset of a metric space), and R-natively, by covers by open subsets of R (Open cover, subcover, compact subset of R (every open cover has a finite subcover), and sequentially compact subset) — and until this clause no item asserted that the two agree.

Facts & Assumptions

Given: A set A⊆R with the subspace metric dA(x,y)=∣x−y∣, a function f:A→R, and a set K⊆R with the subspace metric dK.

[L2]

Subspace metric: for S⊆R the restriction dS of dR to S×S is a metric on S, so dS(x,y)=∣x−y∣ for x,y∈S (Isometry, isometric embedding, and the subspace metric on a subset).

[L3]

Metric continuity at a∈X: for every real ε>0 there is a real δ>0 such that every x∈X with dX(x,a)<δ satisfies dY(f(x),f(a))<ε (Continuity of a map between metric spaces, at a point and globally, in the ε-δ form).

[L4]

Metric uniform continuity: for every real ε>0 there is a real δ>0 such that all x,x′∈X with dX(x,x′)<δ satisfy dY(f(x),f(x′))<ε (Uniform continuity of a map of metric spaces: one δ serving every point).

[L6]

Lipschitz and Hölder for a map of metric spaces: dY(f(x),f(x′))≤L dX(x,x′), respectively dY(f(x),f(x′))≤C dX(x,x′)α for a rational α with 0<α≤1, the power being that of Rational powers ar of a positive base with the convention 0α=0 (Lipschitz map, α-Hölder map for rational 0<α≤1, and contraction).

[L7]

The regularity hierarchy for maps of metric spaces: Lipschitz implies uniformly continuous, uniformly continuous implies continuous, α-Hölder implies uniformly continuous, and on a nonempty bounded space Lipschitz implies α-Hölder for every rational α∈(0,1] (Contraction implies Lipschitz implies uniformly continuous implies continuous; every Hölder map is uniformly continuous, and a Lipschitz map on a bounded space is Hölder for every exponent).

[L8]

Intrinsic character of compactness: a subset K of a metric space X is a compact metric space in its own right, with the subspace metric, exactly when every family of open subsets of X whose union contains K has a finite subfamily whose union contains K (A subset of a metric space is open in the subspace metric exactly when it is the trace of an open set of the ambient space, and it is compact as a metric space in its own right exactly when every family of open subsets of the ambient space covering it, indexed or not, has finitely many members covering it, Open cover, subcover, compact metric space, and compact subset of a metric space).

[L9]
[L10]

Metric convergence: xk→p in (X,d) means d(xk,p)→0 in R (Convergence of a sequence in a metric space: xk→x iff d(xk,x)→0 in R); convergence and the Cauchy condition for real sequences are those of Limits and Cauchy sequences of reals and Sequences of reals: bounded, eventually, frequently, tails, subsequences; a metric is nonnegative (Nonnegativity of a metric is a consequence of the other axioms, not an axiom); and ∣u∣≥0 with ∣∣u∣∣=∣u∣ (Basic properties of the absolute value).

[L11]

Cauchy in a metric space: (xk) is Cauchy in (X,d) when for every rational ε>0 there is N with d(xm,xn)<ε for all m,n≥N (Cauchy sequence in a metric space).

[L12]

A uniformly continuous map of metric spaces sends Cauchy sequences to Cauchy sequences (A uniformly continuous map sends Cauchy sequences to Cauchy sequences).

Proof

technique · direct
1.1

The two distances are the two absolute values. By [L1] and [L2], for x,x′∈A we have dA(x,x′)=∣x−x′∣, and for u,v∈R we have dR(u,v)=∣u−v∣; in particular dR(f(x),f(x′))=∣f(x)−f(x′)∣.

L1L2
1.2

Clause 5, the cover half. Take the ambient metric space to be (R,dR) and K⊆R with dK. By [L8], (K,dK) is a compact metric space exactly when every family of sets open in (R,dR) whose union contains K has a finite subfamily whose union contains K. By [L1] the sets open in (R,dR) are exactly the open subsets of R in the sense of Open subset of R (every point has a neighbourhood inside it), closed subset (complement open), and clopen. So the displayed condition is word for word the definition of compactness of K in [L9].

L1L8L9
2.1

Clause 1. Fix c∈A. Substituting the identities of step 1.1 into [L3], with X:=(A,dA), Y:=(R,dR) and a:=c, turns metric continuity at c into: for every real ε>0 there is a real δ>0 such that every x∈A with ∣x−c∣<δ satisfies ∣f(x)−f(c)∣<ε. That is verbatim the condition of [L5] defining continuity of f at c in the sense of Continuity of f:A→R at a point of A and on A: the ε-δ condition, its agreement with lim⁡x→cf(x)=f(c) at a limit point, and continuity at an isolated point. The two conditions are therefore the same condition, and each holds at every point of A exactly when the other does.

step 1.1L3L5
2.2

Clause 2. The same substitution in [L4] turns metric uniform continuity into: for every real ε>0 there is a real δ>0 such that all x,x′∈A with ∣x−x′∣<δ satisfy ∣f(x)−f(x′)∣<ε, which is verbatim Uniform continuity of f:A→R: one δ serving every pair of points of A as recorded in [L5].

step 1.1L4L5
2.3

Clauses 3 and 4. The same substitution in [L6] turns the Lipschitz condition into ∣f(x)−f(x′)∣≤L ∣x−x′∣ for all x,x′∈A, and the α-Hölder condition into ∣f(x)−f(x′)∣≤C ∣x−x′∣α, the power being that of Rational powers ar of a positive base and defined at x=x′ by the convention 0α=0 recorded in [L6]. Since this library gives no other definition of the two conditions for a real function on A, the displayed inequalities are what those words mean here.

step 1.1L6
2.4

Clause 5, the sequential half: convergence first. Let (xj) be a sequence with terms in K and let p∈K. By [L10] and step 1.1, convergence of (xj) to p in (K,dK) says dK(xj,p)=∣xj−p∣→0 in R; and ∣xj−p∣→0 says that for every rational ε>0 there is J with ∣∣xj−p∣−0∣=∣xj−p∣<ε for j≥J, which is verbatim the statement xj→p of [L10]. So the two convergences are the same relation.

step 1.1L10
3.1

Clause 5, the sequential half. A sequence in (K,dK) is exactly a sequence of reals with all terms in K, and by step 2.4 a subsequence of it converges to a point of K in (K,dK) exactly when it converges to that point in R. Hence "every sequence in K has a subsequence converging in (K,dK) to a point of K" and "every sequence of reals with terms in K has a subsequence converging in R to a point of K" are the same statement, which is the assertion of [L9] and Countably compact, sequentially compact and limit point compact metric spaces.

step 2.4L9L10
3.2

Clause 6. By clauses 1 to 4, the four R-native conditions are the corresponding metric conditions for the map (A,dA)→(R,dR), so the implications of [L7] hold between them verbatim; the boundedness hypothesis in the last of them is boundedness of the metric space (A,dA), which for A⊆R is boundedness of A as a set of reals, since dA(x,x′)=∣x−x′∣.

step 2.1step 2.2step 2.3L7
3.3

Clause 7. By step 1.1 and [L11], a sequence (xk) with terms in A is Cauchy in (A,dA) exactly when for every rational ε>0 there is N with ∣xm−xn∣<ε for all m,n≥N, which is verbatim the Cauchy condition of [L10] for a sequence of reals. Combining this with clause 2 and [L12] gives that a uniformly continuous f:A→R carries Cauchy sequences of A to Cauchy sequences of reals.

step 1.1step 2.2L10L11L12
4.1

Clauses 1 to 7 are proved, each by rewriting one definition into the other along the identity dA(x,x′)=∣x−x′∣ or, for clause 5, along [L8] and the agreement of the two notions of open subset of R.

step 2.1step 2.2step 2.3step 1.2step 3.1step 3.2step 3.3∎

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