A note on tameness of families having bounded variation (Q501587)

Let \((X,\leqslant)\) be a linearly ordered set and \(r\) be a positive real number. A bounded real valued function \(f:X \to \mathbb{R}\) is said to have \textit{variation not greater than \(r\)} if \[ \sum\limits_{i = 0}^{n - 1} |f(x_{i + 1}) - f(x_i)| \leqslant r \] for every choice of \(x_0 \leqslant x_1 \leqslant \ldots \leqslant x_n\) in \(X\). The supremum of all such possible sums is the \textit{variation} of \(f\), which is denoted by \(\Upsilon(f)\). If \(\Upsilon(f) \leqslant r\) then we write \(f \in BV_r(X)\). If \(f[X] \subseteq [c,d]\) for some \(c \leqslant d\) then we also write \(f \in BV_r(X,[c,d])\). In what follows, \(X\) always denotes a linearly ordered set. Helly's selection theorem asserts that for every sequence of functions belonging to \(BV_r([a,b],[c,d])\) there exists a pointwise convergent subsequence -- that is, \(BV_r([a,b],[c,d])\) is sequentially compact in the pointwise topology. In the paper under review, the author establishes a number of generalizations of the referred theorem. For instance, it is shown that for every compact metric space \((Y,d)\) the compact space \(BV_r(X,Y)\) is sequentially compact. The author also shows that any family of order preserving real functions defined on \(X\) is \textit{tame} -- that is, does not contain any independent sequence (a sequence \((f_n)\) of real valued functions on \(X\) is said to be \textit{independent} if there are real numbers \(a < b\) such that \[ \bigcap\limits_{n \in P}f_n^{-1}(-\infty,a) \cap \bigcap\limits_{n \in M}f_n^{-1}(b,\infty) \neq \emptyset \] for all finite disjoint subsets \(P,M\) of \(\mathbb{N})\). Moreover, it is shown that the compact space \(M_+(X,Y)\) of all order preserving maps from \(X\) into \(Y\) is sequentially compact in the case of \(Y\) being a compact metrizable partially ordered set in the sense of Nachbin.