22-1.

Bounded linear operators

MAU22200 - Advanced Analysis

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

Dmitri Zaitsev (Trinity College Dublin) 22-1. Bounded linear operators 1/5
Bounded and continuous linear operators
Definition (linear operators, their boundedness and continuity)
Let (X , k · kX ), (Y , k · kY ) be normed vector spaces over F ∈ {R, C}.
1 A map A : X → Y is a linear operator or simply linear if

A(x + y ) = Ax + Ay , A(cx) = cAx ∀x, y ∈ X , c ∈ F.

2 A linear operator A : X → Y is bounded if there exists real constant

M ≥ 0 with
kAxkY ≤ M · kxkX .
3 A linear operator A : X → Y is continuous if it is continuous with
respect to the metrics on X and Y induced by their respective norms
k · kX and k · kY .
A bounded linear operator A is obviously Lipschitz and hence continuous
with respect to the induced metrics:
kAxkY ≤ M · kxkX =⇒ kAx − Ay kY = kA(x − y )kY ≤ M · kx − y kX .
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Bounded linear operators - examples

Examples
1 Any linear operator A : R → R is of the form Ax = ax for some
a ∈ R. Indeed, if A : R → R is linear, setting a := A(1) we have
Ax = A(x · 1) = xA(1) = ax by linearity. Further, Ax = ax is a
bounded linear operator, since kAxk = |ax| = |a| · |x|. Note that
f (x) = Ax is not a bounded function on R. i.e. boundedness of
operators differs from boundedness of functions.
2 Recall the `p space consists of real sequences x = (xn )n≥1 with
kxkp < ∞. Then for each k ≥ 1, the evaluation map
Ak : `p → R, (xn )n≥1 7→ xk ,
is a bounded linear operator. Indeed: (1) Ak is a linear operator since
Ak (x + y ) = (x + y )k = xk + yk = Ak x + Ak y and
Ak (cx) = (cx)k = cxk = cAk x for x, y ∈ `p , c ∈ R; (2) Ak is bounded
since |Ak x| = |xk | ≤ kxkp = ( n |xn |p )1/p or supn |xn | for p = ∞.
P

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 Examples (boundedness of the evaluation depending on the norm)
1 For any a ≤ x ≤ b, the following evaluation map Ax is linear:

Ax : C [a, b] → R, Ax f := f (x),
=⇒ Ax (f + g ) = (f + g )(x) = f (x) + g (x) = Ax f + Ax g ,
Ax (cf ) = (cf )(x) = cf (x) = cAx f .

2 The linear operator Ax is bounded with respect to the L∞ norm on

C [a, b] (and standard norm on R):

kAx f k = |f (x)| ≤ supa≤t≤b |f (t)| = kf k∞ .

3 A1 : C [0, 1] → R is not bounded with respect to the L1 norm:

R1
For fn (x) := x n , kA1 fn k = |fn (1)| = 1, kfn k1 = 0 t n dt = 1/(n+1),

=⇒ there is no constant M > 0 with kA1 f k ≤ M · kf k1 for all

f ∈ C [0, 1], for otherwise 1 = |A1 fn | ≤ M · kfn k1 = M/(n + 1) for all
n ≥ 1.
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Graphs of the power functions fa (x) = x a

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