Dual norm ($\Vert p{\Vert }_{\ast }={\sup }_{\Vert v\Vert \le 1}|⟨p,v⟩|$)

A dual norm measures how strongly a bounded linear functional can respond to a unit-sized input. If $p$ is a bounded linear functional on a normed vector space $X$, write $⟨p,x⟩=p(x)$ and defineIt is the operator norm of $p$ when its scalar output is measured by absolute value. On ${\mathbb{R}}^n$, represent $p(x)=a^{T}x$ using a coefficient vector $a$. The unit ball is symmetric, so maximizing $|a^{T}x|$ gives the same value as maximizing $a^{T}x$: negate an input whenever its output is negative.^[ref]

For an original two-coordinate example, fix $a=(2,-1{)}^T$, so $p(x)=2x_1-x_2$. The input norm changes the allowable unit ball and hence the dual norm:Under the L1 norm, $|2x_1-x_2|\le 2(|x_1|+|x_2|)\le 2$, and $(1,0{)}^T$ attains the bound. Under the Euclidean norm, the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality gives $|a^{T}x|\le \Vert a{\Vert }_2\Vert x{\Vert }_2\le \sqrt{5}$, with equality at the displayed normalized vector. Under the maximum norm, each coordinate can reach unit absolute value, so $|2x_1-x_2|\le 2+1=3$; $(1,-1{)}^T$ attains it. Thus the dual norms of these three vector norms are respectively the maximum norm, the Euclidean norm, and the L1 norm. For $1\le p\le \infty$, Lp norms on a finite coordinate space pair with their Holder conjugate exponents.^[ref]

This geometry explains the usefulness of a dual norm: it translates a bound on inputs into the sharp bound on a linear output. The support function of the unit ball gives its value in the coefficient direction $a$. Changing the input budget changes the set of possible inputs; the three different answers do not conflict. In finite dimensions a closed unit ball is compact, so a continuous linear functional achieves its maximum absolute value. In an infinite-dimensional normed vector space, the supremum remains the definition and need not be achieved.

Suppose a perturbation $\delta x$ satisfies $\Vert \delta x\Vert \le \epsilon$, with $\epsilon \ge 0$. Absolute homogeneity of a norm and the dual norm definition giveFor nonzero $\delta x$, divide it by its norm to obtain an input in the unit ball; for zero perturbation the inequality is immediate. This is an exact error bound for a linear functional, for every perturbation in the stated input set.

For $p(x)=2x_1-x_2$ and a budget $\epsilon =0.1$, the sharp output-error bounds are $0.2$ for $\Vert \delta x{\Vert }_1\le 0.1$, $\sqrt{5}/10\simeq 0.224$ for $\Vert \delta x{\Vert }_2\le 0.1$, and $0.3$ for $\Vert \delta x{\Vert }_{\infty }\le 0.1$. Scale the maximizing vectors from the preceding example by $0.1$ to attain the positive endpoints; their negatives attain the negative endpoints. The L1 norm budget constrains a total absolute error; the maximum norm budget permits each coordinate to have that error separately. These budgets define nested sets and carry different information.

The coordinates must use the stated scale and units. Rescaling one coordinate changes both its coefficient in $a$ and the meaning of its input budget. For a nonlinear differentiable function with scalar values, its Fréchet derivative at the base point is a linear functional governing the first-order response. An exact finite-perturbation error bound additionally needs control of the Taylor remainder or of the Fréchet derivative along the path.

On the real space of sequences converging to zero $c_0$, use the supremum norm and define the linear functionalThe geometric series gives $|p(x)|\le \Vert x{\Vert }_{\infty }$, so $p$ is a bounded linear functional and $\Vert p{\Vert }_{\ast }\le 1$. The sequence with its first $N$ entries equal to one and all later entries zero belongs to $c_0$, has unit supremum norm, and gives $p(x)=1-2^{-N}$. Hence $\Vert p{\Vert }_{\ast }=1$. But if $\Vert x{\Vert }_{\infty }\le 1$ and $x_n\to 0$, not all coordinates can equal one or all equal minus one. Since every weight $2^{-n}$ is positive, $-1<p(x)<1$. The supremum is approached but never attained on the unit ball.