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Concept
Pointwise convergence
Summary
In mathematics, pointwise convergence is one of various senses in which a sequence of functions can converge to a particular function. It is weaker than uniform convergence, to which it is often compared.
Suppose that is a set and is a topological space, such as the real or complex numbers or a metric space, for example. A net or sequence of functions all having the same domain and codomain is said to converge pointwise to a given function often written as
if (and only if)
The function is said to be the pointwise limit function of the
Sometimes, authors use the term bounded pointwise convergence when there is a constant such that .
This concept is often contrasted with uniform convergence. To say that
means that
where is the common domain of and , and stands for the supremum. That is a stronger statement than the assertion of pointwise convergence: every uniformly convergent sequence is pointwise convergent, to the same limiting function, but some pointwise convergent sequences are not uniformly convergent. For example, if is a sequence of functions defined by then pointwise on the interval but not uniformly.
The pointwise limit of a sequence of continuous functions may be a discontinuous function, but only if the convergence is not uniform. For example,
takes the value when is an integer and when is not an integer, and so is discontinuous at every integer.
The values of the functions need not be real numbers, but may be in any topological space, in order that the concept of pointwise convergence make sense. Uniform convergence, on the other hand, does not make sense for functions taking values in topological spaces generally, but makes sense for functions taking values in metric spaces, and, more generally, in uniform spaces.
Characterizations of the category of topological spaces
Let denote the set of all functions from some given set into some topological space
As described in the article on , if certain conditions are met then it is possible to define a unique topology on a set in terms of what nets do and do not converge.
Official source
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