Equivalence of the Two Definitions of Norm of Dual Space

functional-analysis

The dual space of a normed linear space $V$ is the space of all linear bounded functional on $V$:

$$
V^*:=\{f:V\to R\mid\text{$f$ is linear and bounded}\}
$$

The norm of $V^*$ is defined as:
$$
\|f\|=\sup_{\|u\| \leq 1} |f(u)| \tag{1}
$$

Can you explain to me why (1) is equivalence to the definition:
$$
\|f\|=\sup \frac{|f(u)|}{\|u\|}
$$

I tried to work this out myself but I could only show the equivalence when the $\|u\| \leq 1$ in (1) is changed into $\|u\|=1$.

Best Answer

By linearity, $\frac{|f(u)|}{\|u\|} = |f(\frac{u}{\|u\|})|$ so that's one direction, that is (2) (the 2nd def) is $\leq (1)$. The other direction follows from the fact that if $\|u\|\leq 1$, then $|f(u)| \leq \frac{|f(u)|}{\|u\|}$

Related Question