Extended real number line
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In mathematics, the affinely extended real number system is obtained from the real number system R by adding two elements: +∞ and −∞ (pronounced "positive infinity" and "negative infinity"). These new elements are not real numbers. It is useful in describing various limiting behaviors in calculus and mathematical analysis, especially in the theory of measure and integration. The affinely extended real number system is denoted R or [−∞, +∞]. The affinely extended real number system should be distinguished from the projectively extended real numbers by having two infinities, rather than one.
When the meaning is clear from context, the symbol +∞ is often written simply as ∞.
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[edit] Motivation
[edit] Limits
We often wish to describe the behavior of a function f(x), as either the argument x or the function value f(x) gets "very big" in some sense. For example, consider the function
The graph of this function has a horizontal asymptote at y = 0. Geometrically, as we move farther and farther to the right along the x-axis, the value of 1/x2 approaches 0. This limiting behavior is similar to the limit of a function at a real number, except that there is no real number which x approaches.
By adjoining the elements +∞ and −∞ to R, we allow a formulation of a "limit at infinity" with topological properties similar to those of real-valued limits.
[edit] Measure and integration
In measure theory, it is often useful to allow sets which have infinite measure and integrals whose value may be infinite.
Such measures arise naturally out of calculus. For example, in assigning a measure to R that agrees with the usual length of intervals, this measure must be larger than any finite real number. Also, when considering infinite integrals, such as
the value "infinity" arises. Finally, it is often useful to consider the limit of a sequence of functions, such as
Without allowing functions to take on infinite values, such essential results as the monotone convergence theorem and the dominated convergence theorem would not make sense.
[edit] Order and topological properties
The affinely extended real number system turns into a totally ordered set by defining −∞ ≤ a ≤ +∞ for all a. This order has the desirable property that every subset has a supremum and an infimum: it is a complete lattice. This induces the order topology on R. In this topology, a set U is a neighborhood of +∞ if and only if it contains a set {x : x > a} for some real number a, and analogously for the neighborhoods of −∞. R is a compact Hausdorff space homeomorphic to the unit interval [0, 1]. Thus the topology is metrizable, corresponding (for a given homeomorphism) to the ordinary metric on this interval. There is no metric which is an extension of the ordinary metric on R.
With this topology the specially defined limits for x tending to +∞ and −∞, and the specially defined concept of a limit being +∞ and -∞, reduce to the general topological definition of limit.
[edit] Arithmetic operations
The arithmetic operations of R can be partially extended to R as follows:
- a + ∞ = +∞ + a = +∞ if a ≠ −∞
- a − ∞ = −∞ + a = −∞ if a ≠ +∞
- a × (±∞) = (±∞) × a = ±∞ if a > 0
- a × (±∞) = (±∞) × a = ∓∞ if a < 0
- a / ±∞ = 0 if −∞ < a < +∞
- ±∞ / a = ±∞ if 0 < a < +∞
- ±∞ / a = ∓∞ if −∞ < a < 0
Here, "a + ∞" means both "a + (+∞)" and "a − (−∞)", and "a − ∞" means both "a − (+∞)" and "a + (−∞)".
The expressions ∞ − ∞, 0 × (±∞) and ±∞ / ±∞ (called indeterminate forms) are usually left undefined. These rules are modeled on the laws for infinite limits. However, in the context of probability or measure theory, 0 × (±∞) is often defined as 0.
The expression 1/0 is not defined either as +∞ or −∞, because although it is true that whenever f(x) → 0 for a continuous function f(x) it must be the case that 1/f(x) is eventually contained in every neighborhood of the set {−∞, +∞}, it is not true that 1/f(x) must tend to one of these points. An example is f(x) = 1/(sin(1/x)). (Its modulus 1/| f(x) |, nevertheless, does approach +∞.)
[edit] Algebraic properties
With these definitions R is not a field and not even a ring. However, it still has several convenient properties:
- a + (b + c) and (a + b) + c are either equal or both undefined.
- a + b and b + a are either equal or both undefined.
- a × (b × c) and (a × b) × c are either equal or both undefined.
- a × b and b × a are either equal or both undefined
- a × (b + c) and (a × b) + (a × c) are equal if both are defined.
- if a ≤ b and if both a + c and b + c are defined, then a + c ≤ b + c.
- if a ≤ b and c > 0 and both a × c and b × c are defined, then a × c ≤ b × c.
In general, all laws of arithmetic are valid in R as long as all occurring expressions are defined.
[edit] Miscellaneous
Several functions can be continuously extended to R by taking limits. For instance, one defines exp(−∞) = 0, exp(+∞) = +∞, ln(0) = −∞, ln(+∞) = +∞ etc.
Some discontinuities may additionally be removed. For example, the function 1/x2 can be made continuous (under some definitions of continuity) by setting the value to +∞ for x = 0, and 0 for x = +∞ and x = −∞. The function 1/x can not be made continuous (because the function approaches −∞ as x approaches 0 from below, and +∞ as x approaches 0 from above).
Compare the real projective line, which does not distinguish between +∞ and −∞. As a result, on one hand a function may have limit ∞ on the real projective line, while in the affinely extended real number system only the absolute value of the function has a limit, e.g. in the case of the function 1/x at x = 0. On the other hand
and 
correspond on the real projective line to only a limit from the right and one from the left, respectively, with the full limit only existing when the two are equal. Thus ex and arctan(x) cannot be made continuous at x = ∞ on the real projective line.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- David W. Cantrell, Affinely Extended Real Numbers at MathWorld.
