 McShane extension theorem

Let $A$ be a nonempty subset of a metric space $X$, and let $f:A\to \mathbb{R}$ satisfy a Lipschitz bound $L$. Thenare real-valued Lipschitz functions on all of $X$, agree with $f$ on $A$, and obey the same bound $L$. Every other extension $H$ satisfying that bound lies between them, $G\le H\le F$. Despite the infimum in its formula, $F$ is the largest such extension: every given sample supplies an upper constraint $H(x)\le f(a)+Ld(x,a)$.

Take three real samples $f(0)=0$, $f(1)=1/2$, $f(2)=0$, and allow the bound $L=1$. Their least Lipschitz constant is only $1/2$, so this is deliberately a looser permitted bound. The two extensions areAt $x=1/2$, the allowable interval is $0=G(1/2)\le H(1/2)\le F(1/2)=1/2$. The interpolant obtained by linear interpolation is a piecewise linear function and has value $1/4$ there. Extending it constantly outside $[0,2]$ obeys the same bound on the entire real line. At $x=5/2$, the allowable interval is $[-1/2,1/2]$. Thus the data and the bound control possible values without selecting a unique curve.

The construction is useful when data are known only on a subset: it extends them without increasing an allowed Lipschitz bound. A short justification explains why the envelopes work. Fix $a_0\in A$. The triangle inequality and the bound on $f$ implyso the infimum is finite below; the term $a=a_0$ makes it finite above. At a sample $x=a_0$, all upper terms are at least $f(a_0)$, while that term gives equality. Finally, $d(x,a)\le d(y,a)+d(x,y)$ gives $F(x)\le F(y)+Ld(x,y)$ after taking an infimum; exchanging $x,y$ proves the bound. The lower envelope follows by applying the same argument to $-f$.

E. J. McShane's paper Extension of range of functions appeared in the Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, volume 40, in 1934, pp. 837–842. ^{[ref] [ref]}