A Banach space is a complete normed vector space. This means it has two main properties:
- **Normed**: There is a function (norm) \( \| \cdot \| \) that assigns a non-negative length or size to each vector in the space.
- **Complete**: Every Cauchy sequence in the space converges to a limit within the space.
Let's consider the space \( \ell_1 \), which consists of all infinite sequences of real (or complex) numbers whose series is absolutely convergent. The norm in this space is given by: \[ \| x \|_{\ell_1} = \sum_{i=1}^{\infty} |x_i|. \] \( \ell_1 \) is a Banach space under this norm.
Now, when we talk about *equivalent norms*, we mean different norms that define the same topology on the space. For instance, we might consider a new norm: \[ \| x \|_2 = \sum_{i=1}^{\infty} \frac{|x_i|}{ \log(i+1)}. \] It’s equivalent to the original \( \ell_1 \) norm but exhibits different differentiability properties.
To summarize: Banach spaces are foundational in functional analysis. Equivalent norms can change their properties (like differentiability) while retaining the key topological structure.