A fundamental property of bilinear operators (Q2072013)

\textit{C. Horowitz} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 53, 293--294 (1975; Zbl 0324.15015)] showed that there is a surjective bilinear mapping onto \(\mathbb{C}^4\) that is not open at the origin. This provided an easily understood negative answer to a question \textit{W. Rudin} posed in his book [Function theory in polydiscs. New York-Amsterdam: W.A. Benjamin, Inc. (1969; Zbl 0177.34101)]. The case where the range of the bilinear mapping was $1$- or $2$-dimensional was answered, affirmatively, by the author in [Int. J. Pure Appl. Math. 30, No.~4, 527--536 (2006; Zbl 1125.46032)]. Indeed, there he showed that every \(n\)-linear map onto a $1$- or $2$-dimensional space was open at the origin. Here he completes the picture by proving that every surjective bilinear mapping onto a \(3\)-dimensional space is open at the origin. The result follows by first showing that every surjective bilinear mapping \(\mathbb{C}^2 \times\mathbb{C}^2 \to\mathbb{C}^3\) is open at the origin. Using this, the general result that every surjective bilinear mapping \(\mathbb{C}^m \times\mathbb{C}^n \to\mathbb{C}^3\) is open at the origin, is shown to be a consequence. Reviewer's note: A related paper, at least in spirit, is [\textit{C.~S. Fernandez}, Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 126, No.~9, 2687--2690 (1998; Zbl 0901.46018)].