PORTUGALIAE MATHEMATICA VOLUME 7 7 \ 9 4 8 Publicaséo subsidiads por Publication subventionaée par Publication sponsored by JUNTA DE INVESTIGAGAO MATEMATICA @ SOCIEDADE PORTUGUESA DE MATEMATICA Edigdo de «GAZETA DE MATEMATICA, LDA.» PORTUGALIAE MATHEMATICA HERMANN & Cute, E Rua Serpa Pinto, 17, 4.°-£5q 6, Rue de la Sorbonne LISBOA (PORTUGAL) ' PARIS (Sim) eursPORTUGALIAE MATHEMATICA ‘ Vol. T—Fase, 11948 ON LIPSCHITZ MAPPINGS by Sze-rsen Hu (at Manchester) (Recebido em Setembro de 1947) 1. Introduction. In an algebraico-topological approach to the integra- tion theory due to Whitney [4]! which appears recently, a special class of continuous mappings, called the Lipschitz mappings, plays an extremely important part of the theory. Let X and Y be metric spaces with g denoting distances. A continuous mapping f:X-Y is said to be a Lipschitz mapping, if there exists a finite real number N such that e[ f(x), f(w2)] SN e(e1, x2) for every pair of points x, z2¢X. Up to the author's understanding, this is the first time that Lipschitz conditions appear in investigations on’ algebraic topology. For further developments of this important theory of Whitney, a thorough knowledge of these mappings seems to be necessary. The object of the present paper is to exhibit a few theorems concerning the Lipschitz approxima- tions and the Lipschitz homotopies of mappings. 2. Lipschitz approximations. Let K and L be finite simplicial geometric complexes in some euclidean spaces.. We recall that a sim- plicial mapping f:K-L is a continuous mapping which maps each simplex g¢K linearly onto some simplex f(c)eL. (2:1). Every simplicial mapping £:K-L isa Lipschitz mapping. Proof. For each pair of vertices v;,xeK, lot Ny = el f(r), f@ple(v. 5 and let N-:max Nj taking over all possible pairs v;, vj either conse- cutive or not. ‘Then it can be easily verified that p[ f(e:),f(e)]S Ne(ai,#2) for an arbitrary pair of points 21,a eK. The following lemma is trivial. 1 Numbers in brackets refer to the bibliography at the end of the paper.46 SZE-TSEN HU (22). For metric spaces X,Y,%, if £:X>¥ and g:Y-Z ave Lipschitz mappings so is gf :X-Z,, Now, let X be a motrie space and {U;,{ be a covering finite open covering) of X. Let Fi=X—U; for each i=1,2,---,g. Let L denote the nerve [3, p. 244] of the covering |U;| geometrically realized in some euclidean space. Then the Kuratowski mapping x:X—L of the covering |U,| is defined as follows [1, p. 366]. For each point « of X, set w(x) =e(#, Fi), i=1,2,-.. 1d Evidently w;(w)>0 ifand only if w@U;. Foreach xe X at least one w;(a) is positive since {U,| covers X. To cach vertex veL which corresponds to the open set U;, let us assign the weight w;(x). Denote by (2) the center of gravity (in the euclidean Space containing L) of the system of the vertices v; with these weights, Obviously x(x) eL and hence the Kuratowski mapping x: X—L is defined. (2°38). The Kuratowski mapping x: X+1, of a covering {Us| of a compactum X ts a Lipschitz mapping. Proof. Because of (2-1) and (2:2), we may assume that L is realized in the q-dimensional euclidean space Ev in such a way that the vertex v;¢L which corresponds the open set U; has the coordinates Gia, d2,-+-,3iq), where 3;—1 and 3;<0 if ¢ -j- Then the Kuratowski mapping x is given by x (w)=(Ex(w), &o(@), ++, (w)), where we have Eo(2) = wi (@)/w(e), w(@) = wi (w) ++ +, (@) for each (=1,2,+--,q. Since X is compact and w(r) is a continuous positive function over X, there is a positive real number » such that w(w)=% for each we X. Now let x,y bo arbitrary points of X. For each zeT,, the triangle axiom gives e(#,y) +¢(y,2)29(@,2)>wi(w); hence e(w,y) +1; (y)> =w;(«). Similarly, ¢ (e,y)+w:(e)>w;(y). Therefore, we have |er(@) —w()ISe@s9), 21,2, 59). We are going to caleulate an upper bound for the distance ¢le(w),*(y)]- First, consider the difference: £(@) —5(y)- w:(@) —_ wi(y) w(x) wy) plea) ~ (a) Bh eC) — v2) 3 65 (@) — (QD)