In mathematics, the modulus and characteristic of convexity are measures of "how convex" the unit ball in a Banach space is. In some sense, the modulus of convexity has the same relationship to the ε-δ definition of uniform convexity as the modulus of continuity does to the ε-δ definition of continuity.

Definitions

The modulus of convexity of a Banach space (X, || ||) is the function δ : [0, 2] → [0, 1] defined by

$delta\; (varepsilon)\; =\; inf\; left\{\; left.\; 1\; -\; left|\; frac\{x\; +\; y\}\{2\}\; right|\; ,\; right|\; x,\; y\; in\; B,\; |\; x\; -\; y\; |\; geq\; varepsilon\; right\},$

where B denotes the closed unit ball of (X, || ||). The characteristic of convexity of the space (X, || ||) is the number ε₀ defined by

$varepsilon\_\{0\}\; =\; sup\; \{\; varepsilon\; |\; delta(varepsilon)\; =\; 0\; \}.$

Properties

• The modulus of convexity, δ(ε), is a non-decreasing function of ε. Goebel claims the modulus of convexity is itself convex, while Lindenstrauss and Tzafriri claim that the modulus of convexity need not itself be a convex function of ε.
• (X, || ||) is a uniformly convex space if and only if its characteristic of convexity ε₀ = 0.
• (X, || ||) is a strictly convex space (i.e., the boundary of the unit ball B contains no line segments) if and only if δ(2) = 1.

References

• Goebel, Kazimierz (1970). "Convexity of balls and fixed-point theorems for mappings with nonexpansive square". Compositio Mathematica 22 (3): 269–274.