Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2019 / ii / Paper 4 / 22H / a

The real Riesz representation theorem states that for every bounded linear functional $f:H\to \mathbb{R}$ on a real Hilbert space there is a unique $y\in H$ such thatand $\Vert f\Vert =\Vert y\Vert$.

If $f=0$, take $y=0$. Otherwise $Y=\ker f$ is a closed proper subspace, so the supplied orthogonal decomposition by a closed subspace gives a nonzero $z\in Y^{\perp }$. Since $f(z)\ne 0$, for every $x\in H$,Taking its inner product with $z$ yieldsand thereforeThus $y=f(z)z/\Vert z{\Vert }^2$ represents $f$. If both $y$ and $y^{\prime }$ represent it, then $⟨x,y-y^{\prime }⟩=0$ for every $x$; taking $x=y-y^{\prime }$ proves uniqueness. Finally, Cauchy-Schwarz inequality gives $\Vert f\Vert \le \Vert y\Vert$, while evaluating at $x=y/\Vert y\Vert$ when $y\ne 0$ gives the reverse inequality. Hence