Evaluation at zero is a bounded homomorphism on . Its kernel is a closed self-adjoint ideal and hence a C-star subalgebra. It has no identity: applying a proposed identity to would force that identity to equal one at every positive point, contradicting continuity and its value zero at zero. The map from the unitization of a C-star algebra is a bijective star homomorphism, with inverse . Pulling back the supremum norm verifies the C-star identity, so this is the prescribed unitization norm. Thus adjoining the missing constant direction recovers all continuous functions on the interval.