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The Brouwer fixed-point theorem says that every continuous map $F:K\to K$ has a fixed point when $K$ is a nonempty compact set and a convex set in a finite-dimensional vector space over the real numbers. Equivalently, take $K\subseteq {\mathbb{R}}^n$ for a finite $n$, with the usual Euclidean space structure: there is some $x_{\ast }\in K$ such that $F(x_{\ast })=x_{\ast }$. The conclusion guarantees at least one fixed point, without asserting uniqueness or telling us how quickly to find one. ^[ref]

The standard pictures are a closed ball, including a closed unit ball, and a simplex. A filled disk qualifies; its bounding circle alone does not. A probability simplex also qualifies even though its dimension is smaller than that of its ambient Euclidean space. The hypotheses have concrete meanings: being a convex set keeps every line segment between allowed points inside $K$, and compactness prevents escape or loss of a limiting point. In Euclidean space, the Heine-Borel theorem identifies compact sets with closed sets that are bounded sets. Crucially, every output must belong to the same $K$ as the input.

For a fully computable example, let $D=\{(u,v):u^2+v^2\le 1\}$ be the filled unit disk. Apply a counterclockwise quarter-turn rotation, shrink by $0.4$, and add a translation:This affine map is a continuous map. Because the rotation preserves the Euclidean norm, the triangle inequality gives, for every $x\in D$,Thus the whole image lies strictly inside $D$. More precisely, it is a disk of radius $0.4$ centred at $(0.3,0.1)$. This containment check is what makes the Brouwer fixed-point theorem applicable; a formula being a continuous map by itself would not suffice.

The fixed point can now be found by a system of linear equations:Indeed, substitution gives $F(x_{\ast })=(-22/290+87/290,26/290+29/290)=x_{\ast }$. Its Euclidean norm is $\sqrt{290}/58\approx 0.293610$, safely inside $D$. The figure shows arrows from sample inputs to their outputs; an arrow disappears at the fixed point because the displacement $F(x)-x$ vanishes there.

Repeated iterations of a map happen to succeed for this example. Starting at $x_0=(1,0)$ and setting $x_{k+1}=F(x_k)$ gives $x_1=(0.3,0.5)$, $x_2=(0.1,0.22)$, and $x_3=(0.212,0.14)$. Subtracting the fixed point equation yields $x_{k+1}-x_{\ast }=0.4R_{90}(x_k-x_{\ast })$, so the Euclidean distance to $x_{\ast }$ shrinks by exactly $0.4$ each step. This extra fact follows from the contraction mapping property and the Banach fixed-point theorem. It is additional information beyond the Brouwer fixed-point theorem.

The distinction becomes visible with two simpler continuous maps of the same disk. The pure rotation $G(u,v)=(-v,u)$ has exactly one fixed point, $(0,0)$, since $u=-v$ and $v=u$ force both to vanish. Yet iterations of a map starting at $(1,0)$ here cycle through $(0,1)$, $(-1,0)$, and $(0,-1)$ forever. Their Euclidean distance from $(0,0)$ stays one, so there is no convergence in a metric space. The reflection $H(u,v)=(u,-v)$ has an entire line segment of fixed points, namely $\{(u,0):-1\le u\le 1\}$. Starting off that line segment produces an alternating pair. Existence, uniqueness, and convergence of iterations of a map are separate questions.

Removing hypotheses changes the answer. Restrict the same quarter-turn rotation to the circle $S^1=\{(u,v):u^2+v^2=1\}$. It remains a continuous map into that compact set, but its only possible fixed point, $(0,0)$, has been removed. The circle is not a convex set. Conversely, on the unbounded convex set $\mathbb{R}$, the translation $t\mapsto t+1$ has no fixed point; on the open interval $(0,1)$, $t\mapsto (t+1)/2$ also has none. Neither domain is a compact set. The finite-dimensional closed ball statement should likewise not be extended to arbitrary infinite-dimensional vector spaces, where a closed ball need not be a compact set.

The one-dimensional version explains the connection to the intermediate value theorem. For a continuous map $f:[a,b]\to [a,b]$, put $h(t)=f(t)-t$. Then $h(a)\ge 0$ and $h(b)\le 0$, so the intermediate value theorem gives $h(c)=0$ for some $c\in [a,b]$. In higher dimensions, the Brouwer fixed-point theorem supplies a corresponding existence principle when this scalar sign argument is unavailable. Its practical value is ensuring that a proposed equation $x=F(x)$ has a solution once a suitable domain is found; it supplies no general promise of a fast algorithm.

A useful application is positive matrix eigenvector from simplex normalization: rescale the output of a strictly positive matrix to make its entries sum to one. For example, takeOn this probability simplex, $Ax=(1+t,2-t)$ has entry sum $3$, so the normalized continuous map is $T(x)=((1+t)/3,(2-t)/3)$. Both entries are positive and sum to one, keeping the image inside the probability simplex. Its fixed point equation is $t=(1+t)/3$, hence $t=1/2$. Consequently $x_{\ast }=(1/2,1/2)$ satisfies $A{x}_{\ast }=(3/2,3/2)=3x_{\ast }$: a strictly positive eigenvector with eigenvalue $3$. In larger dimensions, the Brouwer fixed-point theorem guarantees the corresponding positive eigenvector without requiring us to solve a system of linear equations in advance. The fixed point expresses preservation of relative weights, rather than preservation of their unnormalized size.

Proofs can be approached through the no-retraction theorem or Sperner's lemma. In the latter approach, increasingly fine triangulations locate approximate fixed points; compactness supplies a convergent subsequence, and continuous maps turn its limit into an exact fixed point. ^[ref]

A primary historical reference is L. E. J. Brouwer's 1911 paper Über Abbildung von Mannigfaltigkeiten, whose digitized original is hosted by Zenodo under DOI 10.1007/BF01456812. This gives a direct route to the early literature behind the Brouwer fixed-point theorem. ^[ref]

The triangular-grid form is Sperner's lemma: subdivide a triangle into small triangles meeting edge to edge, label its vertices $1,2,3$, and forbid label $i$ on the side opposite corner $i$. The corner labels are thereby forced. An odd number of small triangles, in particular at least one, carry all three labels.

Here is the parity proof. Count incidences of a small triangle with an edge whose endpoint labels are $1,2$. On the outer boundary these edges occur only on the side joining corners $1,2$; traversing that side begins with label one and ends with label two, so the number of changes of label is odd. Interior edges contribute twice to the incidence count. A small triangle with all three labels contributes once; a triangle having only labels one and two contributes twice if it has both, and all other triangles contribute zero. Reduction modulo two therefore proves the assertion.

To obtain the continuous Brouwer fixed-point theorem on the triangle, use barycentric coordinates and a continuous map $F$ from the triangle to itself. If a grid vertex is not already fixed, label it by an index $i$ with $x_i>F_i(x)$, which exists since both coordinate sums are one. A point on the side $x_i=0$ cannot receive label $i$, so the discrete lemma applies. On successively finer grids take a fully labelled small triangle. Compactness gives a subsequence converging to one point $x$; all three vertices converge to it because the mesh tends to zero. Passing to the limit in the three label inequalities gives $x_i\ge F_i(x)$ for every $i$. Equal coordinate sums force equality throughout, hence $F(x)=x$.

A closed disk is homeomorphic to a triangle: radial coordinates from an interior point, scaled by the distance to the boundary in each direction, give such a homeomorphism. Conjugation therefore gives the same fixed-point assertion on the disk. If $r$ were a continuous retraction from the unit disk to its boundary, define $F(x)=-r(x)$. A fixed point would have $|x|=1$, hence $r(x)=x$ and $x=-x$, impossible on the unit circle. Thus no continuous disk-to-boundary retraction exists. The continuous conclusion has been deduced from the grid parity argument, not used to prove it.

Sperner's lemma says that a triangulated triangle whose vertices are labelled $1,2,3$, with each outer vertex having its own label and each boundary edge using only its endpoint labels, contains a small triangle with all three labels. In fact the number of such triangles is odd. Count incidences of small triangles with edges labelled $1,2$. Interior edges contribute twice. On the outer $1,2$ edge, the number of changes between these labels is odd; the other two outer edges contribute zero. A small triangle contributes one incidence if it has all three labels, two if it uses both $1,2$ but not $3$, and zero otherwise. The total parity proves the assertion.

The resulting no-retraction theorem is: there is no continuous retraction of a closed disc onto its boundary. Work first with a closed triangle $P$. If $r:P\to \partial P$ fixes the boundary, colour each vertex of increasingly fine triangulations by an index of a largest barycentric coordinate of $r(v)$. The largest coordinate is at least $1/3$; on the boundary the colouring satisfies Sperner's lemma. Choose a tricoloured small triangle in each triangulation. By compactness and shrinking mesh, a subsequence of their three vertices converges to one point $x$. Continuity forces all three barycentric coordinates of $r(x)$ to be at least $1/3$, so $r(x)$ is the triangle's centre, contradicting $r(x)\in \partial P$. A homeomorphism of a disc with $P$ proves the disc assertion.

Brouwer fixed-point theorem states that every continuous self-map $F$ of a closed disc has a fixed point. If it had none, the ray from $F(x)$ through $x$ would meet the boundary beyond $x$, continuously in $x$. That intersection defines a retraction, since a boundary point is already the outgoing intersection. This contradicts the no-retraction theorem.

Finally fix $y\in {\mathbb{R}}^2$ and define $F_y(x)=y+x-g(x)$. The displacement bound implies $\Vert F_y(x)-y\Vert \le K$, so $F_y$ maps the closed radius-$K$ disc centred at $y$ into itself. Brouwer fixed-point theorem gives $F_y(x)=x$, which is exactly $g(x)=y$. Since $y$ was arbitrary, $g$ is surjective.

Sperner's lemma says that if a triangle is triangulated, its vertices are labelled $1,2,3$, and label $i$ is forbidden on the edge opposite vertex $i$, then an odd number of small triangles have all three labels.

To prove it, count incidences with edges whose endpoint labels are $1$ and $2$. Along the outer $12$-edge, the labels begin at $1$ and end at $2$, so the number of $12$ transitions is odd; no other boundary edge contributes. An interior edge contributes twice. A small triangle contributes an odd number precisely when its three labels are $1,2,3$: a triangle using only $1,2$ contributes two, and every other non-tricoloured triangle contributes zero. The number of tricoloured triangles is therefore odd.

Now suppose the closed sets $A_i$ in the question existed. Let $d_i(x)$ be the distance from a point to a closed set $A_i$. Empty triple intersection makes $d_1+d_2+d_3>0$, sois a continuous function from the large triangle to itself, where $v_i$ is the vertex opposite ${\alpha }_i$. Since the $A_i$ cover the triangle, at least one $d_i(x)$ vanishes, so $r(x)$ always lies on the boundary. On ${\alpha }_i\subseteq A_i$, its $i$th barycentric coordinate vanishes, hence $r({\alpha }_i)\subseteq {\alpha }_i$. Thus $r$ is face-preserving on the boundary; its boundary restriction is homotopic there to the identity by the straight-line homotopy. This would give a map from the triangle into its boundary whose boundary degree is one, contradicting the no-retraction theorem, the standard topological consequence of Sperner's lemma. Therefore the three closed sets must have a common point.