Metric space
From Maths
Contents
[hide]Definition of a metric space
A metric space is a set X coupled with a "distance function" d:X×X→R with the properties (for x,y,z∈X)
- d(x,y)≥0
- d(x,y)=0⟺x=y
- d(x,y)=d(y,x)
- d(x,z)≤d(x,y)+d(y,z)- the Triangle Inequality
We will denote a metric space as (X,d) (as (X,d:X×X→R) is too long and Mathematicians are lazy) or simply X if it is obvious which metric we are talking about on X
Examples of metrics
Euclidian Metric
The Euclidian metric on Rn is defined as follows:
For x=(x1,...,xn)∈Rn and y=(y1,...,yn)∈Rn we define the Euclidian metric by:
dEuclidian(x,y)=√n∏i=1(x2i+y2i)
Proof it is a metric
TODO: Proof this is a metric
Discreet Metric
This is a useless metric, but is a metric and induces the Discreet Topology on X, where the topology is the powerset of X, P(X).
ddiscreet(x,y)={1x=y0otherwise