Picard operator on a closed ball ($(\mathcal{P}g)(t)=b+{\int }_a^{t}f(s,g(s))ds$)

Suppose $f$ is continuous and Lipschitz in its state variable on a closed cylinder $|t-a|\le h$, $\Vert y-b\Vert \le k$, with bounds $\Vert f\Vert \le M$ and Lipschitz constant $L_f$. On a smaller interval of radius $\eta$, the displayed Picard operator maps continuous curves in that closed ball into itself when $\eta M\le k$, and it is a contraction mapping in the supremum norm when $\eta L_f<1$. This function space is complete because it is a closed subset of a Banach space of continuous vector-valued functions. The contraction mapping theorem gives a unique fixed point, and the fundamental theorem of calculus makes it a solution of the ordinary differential equation. Choosing $\eta M<k$ also prevents any solution with the same initial data from first exiting the cylinder during that interval.