The Hahn-Banach Separation Theorem for LCTVS

functional-analysishahn-banach-theoremlocally-convex-spaces

I am currently reading through the text "Topological Vector Spaces" by Robertson, and I have come across the following proposition on page 29/30:

Proposition 5. (Hahn-Banach Separation theorem.) Let $ E $ be a convex space. Suppose that $ A $ and $ B $ are disjoint convex sets and that $ A $ is open. Then there is a continuous linear form $ f $ such that $ f(A) $ and $ f(B) $ are disjoint ($ f $ separates $ A $ and $ B $).

(In this text, a convex space is just short for a locally convex topological vector space.)

The proof begins by stating that the set $ A – B $ is open and convex and does not contain the origin.

Unless I am missing something very trivial, isn't $ A – B = A $ since $ A $ and $ B $ are disjoint? Furthermore, why does $ A – B $ not contain the origin?

Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Best Answer

The notation $A - B$ probably means the set $\{ x - y \mid x \in A, y \in B \}$, rather than the set theoretic difference. This is open because it is the union of the sets $A - y$ for $y \in B$. I leave the proof of convexity to you.

If $0 \in A - B$, then there exist $x \in A$ and $y \in B$ such that $x - y = 0$, i.e. $x= y$, contradicting the disjointness of $A$ and $B$.

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