Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Department of Mathematics
MA5450: Functional Analysis
Problem Set-1
1
1. Let X = R2 , and let p ∈ (0, ∞). Define ∥x∥p = (xp1 + xp2 ) p for x = (x1 , x2 ) ∈ R2 .
(a) For x = (3, −4), compute ∥x∥1 , ∥x∥2 , ∥x∥3 , ∥x∥∞ .
(b) Draw the sets {x ∈ R2 : ∥x∥p = 1} for p = 1, 2, ∞.
(c) Show that ∥x∥p is not a norm when p ∈ (0, 1).
2. (a) Find the conjugate exponent for p = 3, p = 34 , and p = 1.5.
(b) Determine when equality holds in Young’s inequality.
3. Let a = (1, 2, 3) and b = (4, 1, 2) in R3 . Verify Hölder’s and Minkowski’s inequalities for
p = 2, 3.
4. (a) Let X be a metric space and let Cb (X) be the set of all bounded real-valued continuous
functions on X. Define ∥f ∥∞ = max{|f (x)| : x ∈ X}. Show this ∥.∥∞ is a norm on
Cb (X).
(b) For X = [a, b], and f (t) = t2 and g(t) = sin(πt), compute ∥f ∥∞ , ∥g∥∞ , and ∥f + g∥∞ ,
and then verify the triangle inequality.
5. For x = (x1 , . . . , xn ) ∈ Rn \ {0} :
(a) Show lim ∥x∥p = ∥x∥∞ .
p→∞
(b) Show lim+ ∥x∥p = ∥x∥1 .
p→1
6. We say a normed linear space (X, d) is strictly convex, if ∥x∥ = ∥y∥ = 1 and x ̸= y, then
x+y
< 1.
2
(a) Let 1 < p < ∞. Prove that ℓp is strictly convex. Characterise all pairs x, y for which
equality holds in Minkowski, i.e., ∥x + y∥p = ∥x∥p + ∥y∥p .
(b) Show that C([a, b]) with ∥ · ∥∞ is not strictly convex.
7. Let 1 < p, q < ∞ with 1/p + 1/q = 1. For sequences, prove that equality in Hölder,
∞
X
|xi yi | = ∥x∥p ∥y∥q ,
i=1
holds iff there exists λ ≥ 0 such that |xi |p = λ|yi |q for all indices where both are nonzero,
and sgn(xi ) = sgn(yi ) there.
8. Let ν be a seminorm on a vector space X and Zν = {x ∈ X : ν(x) = 0}.
(a) Prove that ∥[x]∥ := ν(x) defines a well-defined norm on X/Zν .
(b) If X is Banach and ν(x) = inf{∥x + y∥ : y ∈ Y } for a closed subspace Y , prove
X/Zν ≃ X/Y and is Banach.
9. Prove that C([a, b]) is complete under ∥ · ∥∞ , and not complete under ∥ · ∥p (1 ≤ p < ∞).
10. If 1 ≤ p < q ≤ ∞, show that ℓp is dense subspace of ℓq with respect to ∥·∥q .
11. Show that every infinite-dimensional Banach space X contains infinitely many proper
subspaces that are not closed in X.
12. Let Ω be a open set in Rn . For p ∈ [1, ∞), show that Cc (Ω), the set of all continuous
functions with compact support contained in Ω, is dense in Lp (Ω).