Wednesday, 14 October 2015

Subspaces of finite codimension in Banach spaces

It's a standard result that a linear functional from a Banach space to the underlying field (real or complex numbers) is continuous if and only if the its kernel is closed. Notice that its kernel is of codimension one. So, use the axiom of choice to find a discontinuous linear functional, and you have found a codimension one subspace which isn't closed. (As I was typing this, rpotrie got the same answer...)



As for complementation: well, this only makes sense for closed finite codimension subspaces. But then it's a perfectly reasonable question, and the answer is "yes". If F is of finite codimension in E, then by definition we can find a basis ${x_1,cdots,x_n}$ for E/F. For each $k$ let $x_k^*$ be the linear functional on $E/F$ dual to $x_k$, so $x_k^*(x_j) = delta_{jk}$. Then let $mu_k$ be the composition of $E rightarrow E/F$ with $x_k^*$. Finally, pick $y_kin E$ with $y_k+F=x_k$. Then the map
$$T:Erightarrow E; xmapsto sum_k mu_k(x) y_k$$
is a projection of $E$ onto the span of the $y_k$, and $I-T$ will be a projection onto $F$ (unless I've messed something up, which is possible).

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