fixed-point theorem

fixed-point theorem, any of various theorems in mathematics dealing with a transformation of the points of a set into points of the same set where it can be proved that at least one point remains fixed. For example, if each real number is squared, the numbers zero and one remain fixed; whereas the transformation whereby each number is increased by one leaves no number fixed. The first example, the transformation consisting of squaring each number, when applied to the open interval of numbers greater than zero and less than one (0,1), also has no fixed points. However, the situation changes for the closed interval [0,1], with the endpoints included. A continuous transformation is one in which neighbouring points are transformed into other neighbouring points. (See continuity.) Brouwer’s fixed-point theorem states that any continuous transformation of a closed disk (including the boundary) into itself leaves at least one point fixed. The theorem is also true for continuous transformations of the points on a closed interval, in a closed ball, or in abstract higher dimensional sets analogous to the ball.

Fixed-point theorems are very useful for finding out if an equation has a solution. For example, in differential equations, a transformation called a differential operator transforms one function into another. Finding a solution of a differential equation can then be interpreted as finding a function unchanged by a related transformation. By considering these functions as points and defining a collection of functions analogous to the above collection of points comprising a disk, theorems analogous to Brouwer’s fixed-point theorem can be proved for differential equations. The most famous theorem of this type is the Leray-Schauder theorem, published in 1934 by the Frenchman Jean Leray and the Pole Julius Schauder. Whether or not this method yields a solution (i.e.,whether or not a fixed-point can be found) depends on the exact nature of the differential operator and the collection of functions from which a solution is sought.