ON FIXED AND PERIODIC POINTS UNDER CONTRACTIVE

MAPPINGS

M. EDELSTEIN

1. Introduction.
For selfmappings of a complete metric space X that satisfy the condition

d(f(p),f(q))<M(p,q)... (1)
for all p, q e X, p ^ q, A being constant 0 ^ A < 1, a well known theorem of
Banach states that there exists a unique £ e X such that/(£) = £.
In the present paper we are concerned with the implications of several
modifications in the assumptions of the above theorem.
1.1. Condition (1) will be relaxed by permitting A= 1. We shall
thus replace (1) by
d(f(p),f(q))<d(p,q)... (2)

for all p, qeX, p -=£q. Mappings of this sort will be called contractive.
1.2. Condition (2) combined with the assumption
3x{eX): {fn{x)}=> {/"»(«)} with ]imfnt(x)eX (3)
t-»oo

(in words: there exists a point x such that its sequence of iterates contains
a subsequence which converges to a point of X) will be shown (Theorem 1)
to be sufficient for the existence of a fixed point.
1.3. The " uniformized" form of (2), namely
g e > 0: 0 < d(p, q) < e implies (2) (4)
when combined with (3) yields the existence of periodic points (Theorem 2).
Mappings of this kind will be called c-contractive.
1.4. Sufficient conditions for the existence of a unique fixed point
for e-contractive mappings will finally be given in Theorem 3.

2. THEOREM 1. Let X be a metric space, f a contractive selfmapping of

X satisfying (3), then $ = ]im fni(x) is a unique fixed point.
i-»oo

Proof. Suppose/(|) ^ $ and consider the sequence {fn'+1(x)} which,

as can easily be verified, converges to /(£).
The mapping r(p, q) of Y = XxX—A (A denoting the "diagonal"
{(x, y)\x = y}) into the real line, defined by

Received 4 August, 1960.

[JOUKNAL LONDON MATH. SOC. 37 (1962), 74-79]
 ON FIXED AND PERIODIC POINTS UNDER CONTRACTIVE MAPPINGS 75

, , d(f(p),f(q))
yr> v
*' d{p, q) '
is clearly continuous on Y. Hence there exists a neighbourhood U of
( £ / ( £ ) ) e y such t h a t p,q&U implies
0 ^r(p, q) < R< 1. (6)
Let #! = #!(£, p) and S2 = S2(f(£), p\ be open discs centred at £
and /(£) respectively and of radius p > 0 small enough so as to have

and SiXS^U.
By (3) there exists a positive integer N such that i>N implies
f <{x)eS1 and, hence, by (2) also/ n .- +1 te)e£ 2 .
n

Thus, by (7)
1
( ) (*>N) " (8)
On the other hand, for such i, it follows from (5) and (6) that
d(fn>+1(x),/"rf•(»)) < Rd(r<(x), fn<+1(x)). (0)
A repeated use of (9) for l>j>N now gives

d(fn>(x),

) >0, Z/oo
which is incompatible with (8). Hence /(f) = g.
Were there an r\ ^ ^ with /(17) = 7; then it would follow that

against (2). This proves unicity and, thus, accomplishes the proof of
this theorem.

3. Remarks. For compact spaces condition (3) is always satisfied.

Hence:
3.1. If X is a compact metric space a n d / is a contractive selfmapping
of X then there exists a unique fixed point.
From Theorem 1 we obtain some information on the convergence of
sequences of iterates.
3.2. Let all assumptions of Theorem 1 hold. If {fn(p)}, peX,
contains a convergent subsequence {fn'{p)\ then lim/ B (p) exists and
71 >0
coincides with the fixed point f. ~ °
76 M. EDELSTEIN

Proof. By Theorem 1 we have ]im fni(p) = g. Given S > 0 there

t->-00

exists, then, a positive integer No such that i > No implies d (tj, fn{{p)j < 8.
If m = ni-{-l (nt fixed, I variable) is any positive integer >ni then

d(t,fm(p)) =

which proves the above assertion.

4. THEOREM 2. Let X be a metric space, f an e-contractive selfmaping

of X satisfying (3) then £ = lim/n<(a;) is a periodic point [that is there exists
Z->00
a positive integer k such ihatfk(i;) = £].
Proof. By (3) there exists a positive integer N± with the property
that i > Nx implies d(fni{x), £J < £e. After ni+1—nt iterations we obtain
from the last inequality, according to (4),

Hence

= K (10)
Suppose now that TJ =/n<+i-n<(£) ^ ^ so that the mapping r(p, q) as
defined in (5) is continuous at (£, rj). From (4) and (10) it then follows
that r ( f , i j ) < l .
Hence with U, Sj, and S2 defined as in the proof of the previous theorem
[rj replacing/(£) there], (6) and (7) will hold again. A positive integer
N2 can now be found with the property that j > N2 implies

( / M ) > / M ) ) ^ x S 2

and consequently

d(fni+1(x),/»j+^+i-w.+1(ic)) <Rd[fni{x),fn

Hence, for l>j>N2:

d(fn'{x), fni+n<+i-ni(x)) < d(/»«+!(«),

< Rd(/7l«-i(x), fn

< R1-*d(fn){x), fni+^i-ni(x)) -> 0, oo

which is clearly incompatible with (7). Hence, putting k = ni+1—nit we

have /*(£) = ^ as asserted.
 ON FIXED AND PERIODIC POINTS UNDER CONTRACTIVE MAPPINGS 77

5. Remarks. Similarly to 3.1 we have:

5.1. If X is a compact metric space a n d / is an c-contractive self-
mapping of X then there exists at least one periodic point.

5.2. If, in Theorem 2, d (& /(£)) < € then k = 1. Indeed

hence /(£) ^ £ contradicts (4).

5.3. It is natural to ask whether Theorem 2 would remain true if
(4) is substituted by a localized version such as
p^q; p,qe8(x, e(z)) implies d(f(p),f(q)) <d(p, q) (4;)
where 8\x, e{z)) — {z\d(z, x) < e(x)}.
The following example serves to show that this is not the case.
EXAMPLE 1.

Xo= { ( - i , o) | n = 1, 2, ...J, 7 0 = {(O,t)|t = O, 1, 2, ...}.

/(0,»)=(0,»+l); » = 0,1,2,....

(0,3)

(0,2)

(0,1)

0,0 (1,0)

X is taken in the metric of the euclidean plane.

Here conditions (3) and (4') are satisfied and although {/ n (l, 0)}
contains a subsequence which converges to (0, 0) this last point is not
periodic.

6. In this section we bring sufficient conditions for the existence of a

fixed point under e-contractive mappings. To this end we shall make
use of the following notion of chainability.
78 M. EDELSTEIN

6.1. DEFINITION. A metric space X is said to be a-chainable (a > 0)

*/ for every p, qeX there exists a finite sequence p = xo,x1} ...,xn = q
(n possibly depending on both p and q) of points in X such that

dfri-i, %i) < a, t = l , 2, ...,w.

This notion was used by the author in a previous note [2] to show that
selfmappings of an e-chainable complete metric space have a unique
fixed point if they satisfy the following "localized" version (V) of (1).

p=£q; p, qeS(x, e) implies d(f(p),f{qfj <Xd(p, q) (1')

e and A being constants: e > 0 , 0 ^ A < 1.

One might conjecture that the additional assumption of e-chainability
will suffice to make k — 1 in Theorem 2. This, however, will be shown
by a suitable counter-example to be false.
6.2. THEOREM 3. Let X be an e-chainable metric space, f an e-con-
tractive selfmapping of X satisfying (3). If £ = limfni(x) has a compact
i->oo
spherical neighbourhood K(£, p) of radius p ^ e then £is a unique fixed point.

Proof. According to Theorem 2 there exists a positive integer k

such that ffc(() = f. Suppose /(f) ^ f and let £ = &„>&!,..., xn = / ( f )
be an e-chain. The case d(tj,f{t;)) <e having been dealt with (5.2),
we may assume d(tj, /(£)) ^ e and therefore n ^ 2. We may also assume
that the above chain has been chosen in such a manner that for any other
e-chain of the type f = yo> </i> •••> &»=/(£) t h e inequality
m^n (11)
holds.
Let 8 = \\€—d(xv x2)) and denote by S1 = S^, 8) and S2 = 82(£, y)
the two open discs centred at £ with radius 8 and y = d(£, xt) respectively.
From (11) there follows
x1eSt-81. (12)
[indeed d(xQ, x2) <d{x 0 , x1)-]-d{x1, x2). If xxe 8X then
d(x0, x2) ^^€-d{xv x2fj +d{xlt x2) < €.
Hence the chain £ = x0, x2, x3, ...,xn=f(£;) is again an e-chain with
m — n— 1 against (11).]
The set /S2—tfj being compact (as a closed subset of K) r(p, q) attains
its maximum E < 1 on | x (S2—SJ^XxX—A.
Hence
 ON FIXED AND PERIODIC POINTS UNDER CONTRACTIVE MAPPINGS 79

Repeated use of (13) now gives for l> 1,

d

The last result contradicts (11) again.

Indeed for I large enough fk(x1) eSlf hence for the e-chain

we obtain m = n—\. This proves that /(f) = f.

Suppose now that there exists an 77, 77 ^ f, with /(TI) = 77. Then by
an argument, omitted here, and quite analogous to the one used above,
one arrives at a contradiction with (11).
7. Remarks. Similarly to 5.1 we have:
7.1. If X is an c-chainable compact metric space and / is an e-con-
tractive selfmapping of X then there exists a unique fixed point.
7.2. A fixed point may fail to exist if there is no K(£, p) such as
required in Theorem 3. This will be plain from the following
EXAMPLE 2.
x = r cos <£; 1 < r ^ 2
a= (x,y)

x = r c o s <f>; r = l
y = r s i n <f>; <f> = J

Xa is taken in the metric of the euclidean plane.

For all a, 0 < a < ^TT, / is readily seen to be e-contractive and Xa
e-chainable for suitable e > l . Condition (3) is clearly satisfied for
(r, </») = 11, ± (-«- — aj ]• but none of these points is a fixed point.

References.
1. J. L. Kelley, General topology (Van Nostrand Comp., 1955).
2. M. Edelstein, " An extension of Banach's contraction principle ", Proc. American Math.
Soc, 12 (1961), 7-10.

Technion-Israel Institute of Technology,

Haifa, Israel.