Means on scattered compacta (Q2016273)

A function \(\mu : X^n \rightarrow X\) defined on the \(n\)th power of a space \(X\) is called an \(n\)-\textit{mean operation} (or briefly an \(n\)-\textit{mean}) if \noindent 1. \(\mu(x, \dots, x) = x\) for every \(x\in X\) and \noindent 2. \(\mu\) is \(S_n\)-invariant in the sense that \(\mu(x_{\sigma(1)}, \dots, x_{\sigma(n)}) = \mu(x_1, \dots, x_n)\) for any permutation \(\sigma\) of the set \(\{1, \dots, n\}\) and any vector \((x_1, \dots, x_n)\in X^n\). A function \(f : X^n \rightarrow Y\) is called \textit{diagonally continuous} if for any map \(g = (g_i)^n_{i=1} : X \rightarrow X^n\) whose components \(g_i :~X \rightarrow X\), \(1\leq i\leq n\), are constant or identity functions, the composition \(f\circ g : X \rightarrow Y\) is continuous. It is clear that for a function \(f : X^n \rightarrow Y\) we have the implications: \[ continuous\Rightarrow diagonally\;continuous\Rightarrow separately\;continuous. \] A subset \(A\) of a set \(X\) is called \textit{cocountable} if its complement \(X\setminus A\) is at most countable. The following theorem is the main result of this paper (Th. 1): If a separable Hausdorff topological space \(X\) contains a cocountable subset homeomorphic to \([0, \omega_1]\), then for every \(n\geq 2\) the space X admits no diagonally continuous \(n\)-mean \(\mu : X^n \rightarrow X\). The paper also contains several related open questions and a brief introduction to the subject matter of the article.