10-4.

Completion
MAU22200 - Advanced Analysis

https://www.maths.tcd.ie/∼zaitsev/Adv-2020
Dmitri Zaitsev zaitsev@maths.tcd.ie

Dmitri Zaitsev (Trinity College Dublin) 10-4. Completion 1/3

Completion
Recall: f : X → Y is an isometry between metric spaces (X , dX ) and
(Y , dY ) if dY (f (x1 ), f (x2 )) = dX (x1 , x2 ) for all x1 , x2 ∈ X .
Definition
A completion of a metric space (X , d) is a complete metric space (X 0 , d 0 )
together with an isometry f : X → X 0 such that f (X ) = X 0 holds for the
closure of the image.

Examples
1 The space X 0 = R of real numbers is a completion of its subset
X = Q of rational numbers with the induced metric and the inclusion
isometry f : X → X 0 , x 7→ x. Indeed, we have shown that R is
complete and the closure f (Q) = Q = R.
2 The closed interval [a, b] is complete as a closed subset in the
complete metric space R. Hence [a, b] is a completion of each of the
intervals I = (a, b), [a, b), (a, b] with the inclusion isometry, since
I = [a, b].
Dmitri Zaitsev (Trinity College Dublin) 10-4. Completion 2/3
Existence of completions - sketch of a proof

Theorem
Every metric space X has a completion f : X → X 0 .

1 Define an equivalence relation on the set of all Cauchy sequences in

X:
(xn ) ∼ (yn ) ⇐⇒ lim d(xn , yn ) = 0.
n→∞
2 Define the completion X0 to be the set of all equivalence classes.
3 Define the metric on X 0 by

d([(xn )], [(yn )]) := lim d(xn , yn ),

n→∞

for which we need to show that the sequence d(xn , yn ) is Cauchy.

4 Define the isometry f : X → X 0 by assigning to each x ∈ X the
equivalence class of the constant sequence xn = x.

Dmitri Zaitsev (Trinity College Dublin) 10-4. Completion 3/3