The strict null space property of order is
Here agrees with on and is zero elsewhere. Suppose a nonzero null vector had at most nonzero entries. Split its support of a vector into disjoint sets of size at most . Applying the null space property to both sets would give and , a contradiction. Empty parts cause the same contradiction. Thus no such nonzero null vector exists.
For an -sparse , the feasible vector has , where the zero-subscript quantity counts nonzero entries and is not a norm. Any feasible competitor with also has at most nonzero entries. The difference has at most nonzero entries, so . Competitors with larger support have strictly larger objective. Therefore every s-sparse vector is the unique sparsest feasible vector. This is sparse injectivity; for the only sparse vector is zero and the conclusion is immediate.
It is equivalent to minimize or its th power , because taking the th root is strictly increasing. For , this is an Lq quasi-norm, while gives the L1 norm.
Assume the Lq null space property of order . Let have support of a vector with , and let be any distinct feasible vector. Then . The triangle inequality for complex magnitudes and the subadditivity give
For the same inequality follows directly from the triangle inequality. Since off ,
Thus is the unique minimizer.
Conversely, suppose every -sparse vector is the unique minimizer for its measurements. Fix and any with . The vectors and are distinct and satisfy , since . Uniqueness for this therefore implies , exactly the required strict inequality. Hence
The quantifier is uniform over the entire sparse class. Recovery of one particular signed vector alone would not imply this null space property.
Use the Lq null space property established above. Fix and order its magnitudes . For a fixed exponent, the sum over the largest entries is the greatest sum over any support of a vector of size at most , so it suffices to verify the property for this ordered support.
If , put . We have : otherwise would have fewer than nonzero entries, and applying the Lq null space property to its support would assert a positive number is less than zero. For , the exponent is negative. Thus
The first inequality uses on the top part; the last uses in the tail. Zero tail entries contribute zero without invoking a negative power of zero. Every other set of size at most has no larger top sum and no smaller complementary sum, so it too satisfies the strict inequality. The preceding equivalence proves
This is monotonicity of uniform sparse recovery in the exponent. If the feasible vector is unique regardless of the objective; if , only the zero vector is relevant. These cases need no threshold argument.
Choose a basis of a conforming finite element space and write . Testing the variational problem with each basis function gives
These are also the equations for the Ritz method. The stiffness matrix is symmetric and a positive-definite matrix: for a nonzero coefficient vector , linear independence gives , and
Thus there is a unique coefficient vector.
Subtracting the exact and discrete variational problems proves Galerkin orthogonality, for every . In the energy norm , the Pythagorean identity yields
Therefore the Ritz method is the best approximation in the energy norm. The Céa lemma also gives , so any dense sequence of conforming trial spaces converges.
A Runge-Kutta method advances through stages
The Butcher tableau records , normally with . Linear absolute stability tests the amplification of a linear decay mode; nonlinear B-stability compares distances between two solutions of a dissipative vector field. Both describe propagation of perturbations, but they impose different conditions.
For the Dahlquist test equation, elimination of stages gives
The linear stability domain consists of for which the step is defined and . Poles or singular stage systems must be excluded, even if an output formula has a formal cancellation. For a scalar test equation, the proof is : the powers are bounded exactly when . For , the update is . If is a normal matrix, unitary diagonalization of a normal matrix makes the operator norm equal to the largest scalar amplification modulus. For a diagonalizable matrix, powers are bounded by the condition number of the eigenvector matrix times the maximal scalar power. These constants must remain uniform for mesh-dependent systems. A defective unit-modulus eigenvalue can instead produce a growing Jordan block; the scalar spectral test alone does not control a general matrix.
An A-stable method accepts the entire closed left half-plane. The Explicit Euler method has and a disk of stability , so it is not A-stable. No nonconstant polynomial stability function can be A-stable, since it is unbounded on the negative real axis; this excludes all consistent explicit Runge-Kutta methods. The Backward Euler method has , and when , proving A-stability. It is also L-stable, because for large left-half-plane .
The implicit midpoint rule and the trapezoidal rule have the same scalar stability function,
The identity proves A-stability. On the imaginary axis their amplification has unit modulus, and along the negative real axis it tends to . Thus neither is L-stable; very stiff decay can persist as alternating numerical values. In contrast, the two-stage Radau IIA method has , with the explicit nonnegative modulus-gap proof in question 1, and is L-stable. This illustrates why L-stability matters beyond A-stability for a stiff differential equation.
For nonlinear problems, assume a real or complex Euclidean inner product and the dissipativity hypothesis
for all relevant states at each common time. Exact solutions satisfy
A B-stable Runge-Kutta method reproduces this nonexpansion of distances whenever its stages exist. Put , , and . Then . Expansion of the output squared norm, followed by substituting in its linear terms, proves the Runge-Kutta contractivity identity
If and is a positive semidefinite matrix, the first sum is nonpositive by dissipativity, and the second is nonnegative: expand each coordinate of the stage vectors to express it as a sum of nonnegative quadratic forms. These are exactly the conditions for algebraic stability of a Runge-Kutta method. Hence algebraic stability implies B-stability. Applying B-stability to the linear dissipative problem , or its two-dimensional real form, also proves A-stability whenever stages are well defined.
The Backward Euler method has , hence ; the implicit midpoint rule has , , hence . Both are algebraically stable and B-stable. For the two-stage Radau IIA method,
a positive semidefinite matrix, while both weights are positive. It therefore combines third-order accuracy, B-stability, and L-stability. The distinction between stability and solvability is essential: for Lipschitz continuous , the stage map is a contraction when , so the contraction mapping theorem proves small-step unique solvability. The preceding algebraic stability proof is an estimate for existing stages; it is not a theorem asserting stage existence for arbitrary step sizes and domains.
Linear A-stability is insufficient for nonlinear B-stability. The trapezoidal rule fails B-stability, even though its scalar stability function is identical to that of the B-stable implicit midpoint rule. Its Runge-Kutta method coefficients are
Failure of this sufficient algebraic stability test alone would not prove failure of B-stability. An actual counterexample does: take and . Dissipativity follows from
The unique step map obeys , because the left-hand side is strictly increasing and onto. At , , and implicit differentiation gives
Nearby initial states expand in distance. This proves a true nonlinear failure rather than merely failure of a coefficient criterion.
Finally, stability of a numerical method on finite intervals connects these contractivity properties to accuracy. If a one-step map is nonexpansive and its exact one-step defect has norm at most , then the error satisfies , hence for . A Lipschitz step bound gives the same order using the discrete Gronwall inequality. For a stiff differential equation, the value of B-stability is that the propagation estimate need not grow with a large negative dissipative rate. The accuracy constant still needs appropriate smoothness and uniform derivative bounds; stability alone does not establish a mesh-uniform error order.
Zorn lemma states that a partially ordered set in which every chain in a partially ordered set has an upper bound has a maximal element. Include the empty chain in a partially ordered set, so the hypotheses imply that the set is nonempty. Suppose there were no maximal element. Every chain in a partially ordered set has an upper bound , and some ; therefore the set of elements strictly above every member of is nonempty. The axiom of choice selects one such element for each chain in a partially ordered set (and an element of when is empty).
By Hartogs theorem, there is an ordinal which does not inject into . Transfinite recursion defines for all : previous elements form a strictly increasing chain in a partially ordered set, including at limit ordinal stages. All are distinct, giving the forbidden injection. This proves Zorn lemma; the choice of is the use of the axiom of choice.
Apply Zorn lemma to linearly independent subsets of over , ordered by inclusion. A union along a chain in a partially ordered set is linearly independent because each finite linear relation occurs in one member of that chain in a partially ordered set. A maximal independent set spans , since a vector outside its span could be adjoined. Thus has a Hamel basis over .
For a finite basis, the Steinitz exchange lemma proves equality of basis sizes. This also rules out an infinite basis when a finite spanning set exists: write each member of the finite spanning set using finitely many elements of another basis; their finite union spans, and independence leaves no other basis elements. If a basis is infinite with cardinality , the finite-support description of every vector and countability of give
Here infinite cardinal arithmetic uses the axiom of choice. Thus any infinite basis has cardinality , proving all bases have the same cardinality. The zero space has its unique empty basis.
The Maxwell equations with vacuum permittivity and permeability give and . The current identity is the Ampère-Maxwell equation, and Faraday's law gives . With ,
The identity , and its electric analogue, turn this into the divergence of the Maxwell stress tensor . Thus the tensor in the question is its negative:
The vector is electromagnetic momentum density, and is the outward flux of its th component across a surface normal in the direction. In static conditions the total force on matter is ; generally subtract the time derivative of the enclosed electromagnetic field momentum as well.
For the two infinite sheets, superposition and the electromagnetic field jumps give , between them and zero outside. Substitution yields exactly
A thin pillbox enclosing the sheet has only its face in the interior electromagnetic field. Therefore
Directly, omit the sheet's self-electromagnetic field: the other sheet supplies and . The Lorentz force per area is , giving the same result. The electric contribution is attractive and the magnetic contribution repulsive.
If for a single moving charge population, use to obtain . For physical this is attractive, so motion of these charges cannot make the force repulsive. Independently imposed currents need not satisfy that restriction on .
At , choose local normal coordinates with . Let be their coordinate basis. The vectors and have zero metric tensor square, and their component matrix has determinant . Thus two independent null vectors form a basis of the tangent space. Normal coordinates are only needed at the chosen point, not on a whole neighbourhood with flat metric.
Two consecutive steps multiply by the polynomial of the symmetric matrix
The Chebyshev polynomial bound on gives , and the actual endpoints attain it. At the dominant eigenvalue, . Thus
For a small prescribed error relative to a fixed initial-component factor , the number of matrix-vector iterations is approximately . The three leading denominators are . Therefore the iteration counts are in the ratio : the single shift halves and the alternating double shift quarters the leading count. A pair of double-shift steps costs two matrix-vector products, already accounted for by using per iteration rather than .
Expand the initial vector in the orthonormal eigenbasis. After unshifted steps, the coefficient ratio of mode to the dominant mode is . Since and , the sharp asymptotic contraction factor is
Normalization only changes the dominant coefficient by a higher-order error; its eventual sign is the sign of .
Identify a binary word with its coefficient polynomial in . A cyclic code is exactly an ideal of : closure under multiplication by is closure under cyclic shift. Its inverse image in the principal ideal domain has a unique monic generator polynomial of a cyclic code dividing . Put
The cubics have no root in , hence are irreducible polynomials. The eight monic divisors yield all binary cyclic codes of length seven. A code generated by has basis and dimension , with the zero code treated separately.
For the dual of a cyclic code, let . Orthogonality of coefficient vectors to all cyclic shifts gives the generator . Here . Thus the complete pairing, with the respective dimensions, is
These are respectively the whole-space/zero, even-weight/repetition, and two Hamming code/binary simplex code pairs. The reciprocal formula follows because the product of a word polynomial and the reversed polynomial of an orthogonal word has zero coefficients in all cyclic positions; the resulting inclusion has the correct complementary dimension, hence is equality.