Monotone curves (Q637594)

The key theorem proved here is this separation result. Given a finite family \(F\) of affine subspaces in euclidean \(n\)-space, and two distinct points \(a, b\) therein, there is a smooth real-valued function \(\Phi\), so that \(\Phi'(u)\) is parallel to \(L\) whenever \(u\in L\in F\), and \(\Phi(a)-\Phi(b)=\|a-b\|\); moreover \(\Phi'\) is Lipschitz, with constant depending only on \(n\) and the cardinality of \(F\). This is used to establish convergence, indeed to estimate its rate, for the sequence of products of orthogonal projections onto a finite family of finite dimensional or finite codimensional subspaces in a Hilbert space. Finally, a strong upper bound is given for the distance between endpoints of a piecewise linear monotone curve in a Hilbert space, involving only the difference between the squared norms of the endpoints, and the number of segments.