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TheoremStatement: AI-adaptedProof: AI-generatedprecheck passjudge pass (z-ai/glm-5.2)audited 2026-07-29
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The set of rearrangement sums of a convergent series in Rn is a nonempty subset of the affine subspace s+Γ⊥

Statement

Let n∈N with n≥1, let (xk) be a sequence in Rn whose series converges (Series of vectors in Rn, absolute convergence, rearrangement, and the set of rearrangement sums) and write s:=∑k=0∞xk. Let Γ and Γ⊥ be as in The subspace Γ of directions along which a series converges absolutely, and its orthogonal complement Γ⊥. Then:

  1. Nonemptiness. s∈S(x), so S(x)≠∅.
  2. Containment. S(x)  ⊆  s+Γ⊥, the affine subspace through s with direction Γ⊥ (The subspace Γ of directions along which a series converges absolutely, and its orthogonal complement Γ⊥). Equivalently, t−s∈Γ⊥ for every rearrangement sum t.
  3. The absolutely convergent case. If ∑xk converges absolutely then Γ=Rn, Γ⊥={0}, the affine subspace is the single point {s}, and S(x)={s}.
  4. The one-dimensional conditionally convergent case. Let n=1 and identify R1 with R as in Series of vectors in Rn, absolute convergence, rearrangement, and the set of rearrangement sums. If ∑xk converges conditionally (Absolutely convergent and conditionally convergent series, and the general starting index) then Γ={0}, Γ⊥=R1, and the containment of clause 2 is an equality, S(x)=s+Γ⊥=R1, by the published The Riemann series theorem: a conditionally convergent real series has, for every c∈R, a rearrangement with sum c, and rearrangements diverging to +∞, to −∞, and oscillating with any prescribed lim inf⁡≤lim sup⁡ in R‾.

What this theorem does not say, stated here and repeated in the Remarks. It proves a containment and nothing more. Whether S(x) is all of s+Γ⊥ when n≥2 is not settled anywhere on this page, and no item on this page asserts anything about it in either direction. Clause 4 is the case n=1, where the answer is supplied by a published theorem about the real line; it is not evidence for any statement in higher dimensions.

Facts & Assumptions

Given: A natural n≥1; a sequence (xk) in Rn with ∑xk convergent of sum s; a bijection σ of N; a vector a∈Γ; the partial sums sN=∑k<Nxk and sNσ=∑k<Nxσ(k).

[L2]

Γ and Γ⊥ are linear subspaces; a∈Γ means ∑k∣⟨a,xk⟩∣ converges; Γ=Rn exactly when ∑xk converges absolutely; and s+W denotes the coset of a linear subspace W (The subspace Γ of directions along which a series converges absolutely, and its orthogonal complement Γ⊥, Linear subspace of a vector space).

[L5]

Dirichlet's rearrangement theorem: an absolutely convergent real series has, for every bijection σ of N, a rearrangement converging to the same sum (Dirichlet's rearrangement theorem: an absolutely convergent series converges unconditionally, and every rearrangement of it has the same sum, Absolutely convergent and conditionally convergent series, and the general starting index).

[L8]

An absolutely convergent series in Rn converges, every rearrangement converges to the same sum, and S(x) is then a single point (An absolutely convergent series in Rn converges, and every rearrangement converges to the same sum).

[L9]

Absolute value and order arithmetic: ∣uv∣=∣u∣∣v∣, ∣u∣≥0, and u>0 gives u−1>0 (Basic properties of the absolute value, Inverses of positives are positive, and reciprocation reverses order).

Proof

technique · direct
1.1

The identity map of N is a bijection and the rearrangement along it is the original series, so s∈S(x) and clause 1 holds.

L1
1.2

For every a∈Rn and every finite list u:p→Rn, ⟨a,∑j<puj⟩=∑j<p⟨a,uj⟩: at p=0 both sides are 0, and the successor step is additivity of the inner product in its second argument.

L3L4
1.3

If uN→u in (Rn,d2) then ⟨a,uN⟩→⟨a,u⟩ in R, since ∣⟨a,uN⟩−⟨a,u⟩∣=∣⟨a,uN−u⟩∣≤∥a∥2 ∥uN−u∥2, so a tolerance ε/(∥a∥2+1) on the right serves for ε on the left.

L3L7L9
1.4

Now let n=1 and suppose ∑xk converges conditionally, so the real series ∑k(xk)0 converges and ∑k∣(xk)0∣ diverges. For a∈R1, ⟨a,xk⟩=a0(xk)0 and ∣⟨a,xk⟩∣=∣a0∣ ∣(xk)0∣; if a0≠0 then convergence of ∑k∣a0∣∣(xk)0∣ would give convergence of ∑k∣(xk)0∣ after multiplying by the positive 1/∣a0∣, which is false, so a∈Γ forces a0=0; and a=0 does lie in Γ. Hence Γ={0}.

L1L2L9
2.1

Let t∈S(x), say sNσ→t for a bijection σ, and let a∈Γ. By steps 1.2 and 1.3, ⟨a,t⟩=lim⁡N⟨a,sNσ⟩=lim⁡N∑k<N⟨a,xσ(k)⟩, so the real series ∑k⟨a,xσ(k)⟩ converges with sum ⟨a,t⟩.

step 1.2step 1.3L1L7
2.2

In the same way ⟨a,s⟩=lim⁡N⟨a,sN⟩=lim⁡N∑k<N⟨a,xk⟩, so ∑k⟨a,xk⟩ converges with sum ⟨a,s⟩.

step 1.2step 1.3L7
2.3

With Γ={0} the condition defining Γ⊥ is ⟨0,y⟩=0, which holds for every y, so Γ⊥=R1 and s+Γ⊥=R1.

step 1.4L2L3
3.1

The real sequence k↦⟨a,xσ(k)⟩ is the rearrangement along σ of the sequence k↦⟨a,xk⟩, and the latter series converges absolutely because a∈Γ; so by Dirichlet's theorem the two series have the same sum.

step 2.1step 2.2L2L5
3.2

By the Riemann series theorem applied to the conditionally convergent real series ∑k(xk)0, every real c is the sum of some rearrangement of it; transporting along the identification of R with R1, every element of R1 lies in S(x). So S(x)=R1=s+Γ⊥, which with steps 1.4 and 2.3 is clause 4.

step 1.4step 2.3L1L6L7
4.1

Combining steps 2.1, 2.2 and 3.1 gives ⟨a,t⟩=⟨a,s⟩, hence ⟨a,t−s⟩=0 by bilinearity.

step 2.1step 2.2step 3.1L3
5.1

Since a∈Γ was arbitrary, t−s∈Γ⊥, that is t∈s+Γ⊥; as t∈S(x) was arbitrary, clause 2 holds.

step 4.1L2
6.1

Suppose ∑xk converges absolutely. Then Γ=Rn, so any y∈Γ⊥ satisfies ⟨y,y⟩=0 and hence y=0; thus Γ⊥={0} and s+Γ⊥={s}. Moreover S(x)={s} by [L8], so clause 3 holds and the containment of clause 2 is an equality in this case.

step 5.1L2L3L8
7.1

Clauses 1, 2, 3 and 4 are steps 1.1, 5.1, 6.1 and 3.2.

step 1.1step 5.1step 6.1step 3.2∎

Remarks

  • This theorem proves containment only, and the reverse inclusion is not proved, assumed, or asserted anywhere on this page. For n≥2 the question whether every point of s+Γ⊥ is a rearrangement sum is open as far as this library is concerned. It is not open in the mathematical literature, and this page deliberately states nothing about what the literature says, exactly as the published The same question in Rd: what the set of rearrangement sums looks like, and why that answer is not reachable at this point in the reading order declines to. What is missing here is machinery, not effort: every route known to the author of this page passes through the orthogonal decomposition of a finite-dimensional inner product space and through a separation argument for convex sets, and neither exists in this library — the first belongs to a page earlier in the plan order that is not yet built, and the second to no planned page at all. See Conventions of this page, the standing n≥1 hypothesis, and what is taken up elsewhere in the reading order.

  • The title claims exactly clause 2 and clause 1, and no more. A title asserting that S(x) is the affine subspace would assert the reverse inclusion, which is not proved here.

  • Clause 4 is the published one-dimensional dichotomy seen from this page. Over R a convergent series is either absolutely convergent, and then Γ is everything and S is a point (clause 3), or conditionally convergent, and then Γ is {0} and S is the whole line (clause 4). Both extremes are consistent with clause 2, and both are equalities; that is a fact about dimension 1, where a linear subspace of R1 is {0} or everything and there is no room in between.

  • What the containment already rules out. Even without the reverse inclusion, clause 2 forbids a rearrangement sum from leaving the affine subspace. That is enough to refute the naive Rn analogue of the Riemann series theorem, and the companion page does so with an elementary witness, using clause 2 and nothing further.

Depends on

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Sources