Irrationality of makes the expression unique for rational : equality of two such expressions with different would express as a rational number. Therefore the rule selecting the coefficient defines a function on . Its domain is a vector subspace over , and direct coefficient addition and rational scaling show it is -linear, hence weakly linear. In particular
Use Zorn's lemma on the nonempty family of weakly linear extensions of this particular function. Chain unions remain extensions by (a); hence there is a maximal extension . Any further extension in would also contain the original function, so this is maximal in . Part (b) therefore gives .
A real-linear map is multiplication by its value at . Were real-linear, it would satisfy
contradicting the inherited value . Thus a weakly linear function on all of need not be real-linear. Its rational homogeneity of an additive function is insufficient for real homogeneity. This particular extension is also discontinuous: rational numbers approaching have value zero, while the value at their limit is one.
Real-linear map 2026-10-31
A real-linear map is a linear map over the real numbers. For a map from the real line to itself, real linearity means multiplication by a fixed real number, its value at one. Rational-linear maps need not be real-linear without an additional regularity condition.