nLab Cauchy sequence

Cauchy sequences

Cauchy sequences

Idea

A Cauchy sequence is an infinite sequence which ought to converge in the sense that successive terms get arbitrarily close together, as they would if they were getting arbitrarily close to a limit. Among sequences, only Cauchy sequences will converge; in a complete space, all Cauchy sequence converge.

Definitions

The precise definition varies with the context.

A sequence (x i) i(x_i)_i of real numbers is Cauchy if, for every positive number ϵ\epsilon, almost all terms are within ϵ\epsilon of one another. Explicitly:

ϵ,N,i,jN,|x ix j|<ϵ. \forall \epsilon,\; \exists N,\; \forall i, j \geq N,\; |x_i - x_j| \lt \epsilon .

In a metric space, a sequence (x i) i(x_i)_i is Cauchy under the same condition, now relative to the metric dd on that space. Explicitly:

ϵ,N,i,jN,d(x i,x j)<ϵ. \forall \epsilon,\; \exists N,\; \forall i, j \geq N,\; d(x_i,x_j) \lt \epsilon .

The same definition immediately applies to an extended quasipseudometric space (aka a Lawvere metric space), or anything in between.

In a gauge space, a sequence (x i) i(x_i)_i is Cauchy if this condition is satisfied for each gauging distance separately. Explicitly:

d,ϵ,N,i,jN,d(x i,x j)<ϵ. \forall d,\; \forall \epsilon,\; \exists N,\; \forall i, j \geq N,\; d(x_i,x_j) \lt \epsilon .

In a Booij premetric space, a sequence (x i) i(x_i)_i is Cauchy if this condition is satisfied for the premetric for all positive rational numbers ϵ\epsilon. Explicitly:

ϵ,N,i,jN,x i ϵx j. \forall \epsilon,\; \exists N,\; \forall i, j \geq N,\; x_i \sim_\epsilon x_j .

In a uniform space, a sequence (x i) i(x_i)_i is Cauchy if an analogous condition is satisfied for each entourage UU. Explicitly:

U,N,i,jN,;x i Ux j. \forall U,\; \exists N,\; \forall i, j \geq N,; x_i \approx_U x_j .

In a preuniform space, a sequence (x i) i(x_i)_i is Cauchy if this condition is satisfied for each preuniformity UU. Explicitly:

U,N,i,jN,x i Ux j. \forall U,\; \exists N,\; \forall i, j \geq N,\; x_i \approx_U x_j .

Generalizing both Booij premetric spaces and preuniform spaces, in a TT-premetric space with set TT, a sequence (x i) i(x_i)_i is Cauchy if this condition is satisfied for each element UTU \in T. Explicitly:

U,N,i,jN,x i Ux j. \forall U,\; \exists N,\; \forall i, j \geq N,\; x_i \sim_U x_j .

In a Cauchy space, a sequence (x i) i(x_i)_i is Cauchy if it generates a Cauchy filter. Explicitly:

{A|N,i,jN,x iA}𝒞, \{ A \;|\; \exists N,\; \forall i, j \geq N,\; x_i \in A \} \in \mathcal{C} ,

where 𝒞\mathcal{C} is the collection of Cauchy filters that defines the structure of the Cauchy space.

All of the above are in fact special cases of this.

Generalizations

Multivalued sequences

A multivalued sequence on a set AA is a function f:𝒫(T)f:\mathbb{N} \to \mathcal{P}(T) such that for every natural number nn \in \mathbb{N}, f(n)f(n) is an inhabited subset of AA.

A multivalued sequence x:𝒫()x:\mathbb{N} \to \mathcal{P}(\mathbb{R}) of real numbers is Cauchy if, for every positive number ϵ\epsilon, there exist a natural number NN such that for all i,jNi, j \geq N, there exist real numbers a,ba, b such that x(i)(a)x(i)(a) and x(j)(b)x(j)(b) holds and |ab|<ϵ\vert a - b \vert \lt \epsilon.

In a metric space SS, a multivalued sequence x:𝒫(S)x:\mathbb{N} \to \mathcal{P}(S) is Cauchy if, for every positive number ϵ\epsilon, there exist a natural number NN such that for all i,jNi, j \geq N, there exist elements a,bSa, b \in S such that x(i)(a)x(i)(a) and x(j)(b)x(j)(b) holds and d(a,b)<ϵd(a, b) \lt \epsilon.

In a gauge space SS, a multivalued sequence x:𝒫(S)x:\mathbb{N} \to \mathcal{P}(S) is Cauchy if, for every positive number ϵ\epsilon and every gauge d:S×S 0d:S \times S \to \mathbb{R}_{\geq 0}, there exist a natural number NN such that for all i,jNi, j \geq N, there exist elements a,bSa, b \in S such that x(i)(a)x(i)(a) and x(j)(b)x(j)(b) holds and d(a,b)<ϵd(a, b) \lt \epsilon.

In a uniform space SS, a multivalued sequence x:𝒫(S)x:\mathbb{N} \to \mathcal{P}(S) is Cauchy if, for every entourage UU, there exist a natural number NN such that for all i,jNi, j \geq N, there exist elements a,bSa, b \in S such that x(i)(a)x(i)(a) and x(j)(b)x(j)(b) holds and a Uba \approx_U b.

Nets and filters

A net is a generalization of a sequence; the definitions above serve to define a Cauchy net without any change, other than allowing (x i) i(x_i)_i to be a net. This is precisely the structure of a Cauchy space; instead of defining Cauchy nets in terms of Cauchy filters as above, we may equally well define a Cauchy filter to be a proper filter whose canonical net? is Cauchy.

Note that in a complete space, every Cauchy net has a limit, not just every Cauchy sequence. Rather, a space in which every Cauchy sequence converges is called sequentially complete or sequentially Cauchy complete. Note that a metric space (or even a Lawvere metric space) is in fact complete if it is sequentially complete (although this result is not valid in some weak foundations); in particular, the real line R\mathbf{R} is complete.

When Bill Lawvere idenitified Lawvere metric spaces with enriched categories over the closed monoidal poset (R +,+)(\mathbf{R}^+,+), he identified Cauchy sequences in such spaces with certain adjunctions of bimodules, enough so that a metric space would be a Cauchy-complete space if and only if every adjunction of bimodules is induced by an enriched functor. Generalising this condition from (R +,+)(\mathbf{R}^+,+) to an arbitrary closed monoidal category, we have the concept of Cauchy-complete category.

References

Last revised on May 26, 2023 at 02:00:23. See the history of this page for a list of all contributions to it.