Bounded linear functional on $C[0,1]$

functional-analysis

Consider $C[0,1]$, space of all continuous complex valued functions defined on $[0,1]$, and $f_{t_0}\in C[0,1]$, a function defined as
$$f_{t_0}(x)=x(t_0).$$
Then, $f_{t_0}$ is a bounded linear functional on $C[0,1]$.

My question is : If $f\in C[0,1]$ is a bounded linear functional, then $f=f_{t_0}$?

In other words, Is there exists a bounded linear functional $f$ on $C[0,1]$ other than $f_{t_0}$?

Best Answer

The functionals you mentioned cover a certain type of functionals: multiplicative linear functionals.

In general, if you consider any regular, complete, finite complex measure $\lambda$ on $[0,1]$, you will get a linear functional $\phi$ on $C[0,1]$ which acts in the following way

$$\phi (f)= \int_{[0,1]} f d\lambda.$$

Conversely, any bounded linear functional $\phi$ on $C[0,1]$ has the above mentioned form (i.e., an expression in terms of a measure). It is called Riesz representation theorem. See Rudin's Real and Complex analysis. Note that your functional can be expresses by the Dirac measure at $t_0$.

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