Differential Geometry – Diffeomorphism Preserves Dimension

differential-geometry

I read from Milnor's book $\textit{Topology from the Differentiable Viewpoint}$ this assertion

"If $f$ is a diffeomorphism between opensets $U\subset R^k$ and $V\subset R^l$, then k must equal l, and the linear mapping

$$df_x:R^k\rightarrow R^l$$ must be nonsingular."

The proof was: The composition $f^{-1}\circ f$ is the identity map of U; hence $d(f^{-1})_v\circ df_x$ is the identity map of $R^k$. Similarly $df_x \circ d(f^{-1})_v$ is the identity map of $R^l$. Thus $df_x$ has a two-sided inverse, and it follows that $k=l$.

My question is as follows:

I don't understand why the fact that $df_x$ has a two-sided inverse implies $k=1$. The way I would prove it is as follows: Instead of proving $df_x$ has a two-sided inverse, I would say one-sided inverse will suffice. Since $d(f^{-1})_v\circ df_x$, it follows that $df_x$ must be an isomorphism(Structure preserving comes from linearity. And bijectivity comes from the identity map.). Therefore $k=l$.

Thanks so much for your help!

Best Answer

It is not true that if a linear map $f:V\to W$ has a one sided inverse, then $\dim V=\dim W$ nor that $f$ is an isomorphism.

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