Difficulty with EASY equivalence statement

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SUMMARY

The forum discussion centers on proving the equivalence of bounded linear operators S and T in the context of a Hilbert space \(\mathcal{H}\). Specifically, it addresses the statement \(S=T \, \Leftrightarrow \, \langle Sx\,|\,x \rangle = \langle Tx\,|\,x \rangle\) for all \(x \in \mathcal{H}\). Participants explore the implications of this equivalence, the necessity of the Polarization Identity, and the importance of the underlying field being complex. The discussion concludes that proving \(\langle Sx\,|\,y \rangle = \langle Tx\,|\,y \rangle\) for all \(x, y \in \mathcal{H}\) is essential to establish \(S=T\).

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  • #31
Truly I was not joking.
All of what I was trying to speak about was what you mentioned in your #22nd post.

Oxymoron said:
So we have to prove \langle Sx\,|\,x \rangle = \langle Tx\,|\,x \rangle \Rightarrow \langle Sx\,|\,y \rangle = \langle Tx\,|\,y \rangle.

(\Rightarrow)
Suppose \langle Sx\,|\,x \rangle = \langle Tx\,|\,x \rangle. Then rearrangining gives \langle Sx\,|\,x \rangle - \langle Tx\,|\,x \rangle =0 which implies \langle (S-T)x\,|\,x \rangle = 0. Now let x=y(?). Then \langle (S-T)x\,|\,y \rangle = 0. and reverse the process to solve.

Is this what you mean?
Yes, here, your problem is All x,y in H, so x,y are arbitrary, you can replace x with y or vice versa (which also usually happens with some integral problems)
 
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  • #32
So what you quoted is correct?
 
  • #33
where do you think the mistake is ?
 
  • #34
There's a mistake? Well, I am not so sure you can just let x=y. Thats the only thing that worries me
 
  • #35
That idea is applied from integral calculations. Again, it is always possible since we are dealing with arbitrary *letters*. Proofs in Sets, Mappings etc also have a lot of similar cases.
 
  • #36
Again before I go to bed, I would like to only say that I was not saying that x=y, but just *because they are arbitrary, so we can replace the x with y or y with x*.

I am sure you can also say <Sy|x>=<Ty|x> , because S=T;
 
  • #37
I think you have the quantifiers wrong, Oxymoron, and that's the source of your problem:

<br /> \left( \forall x \in \mathcal{H}: Ax = 0 \right) \implies A = 0<br />

is the statement, and is trivial to prove. (What's the definition of equality for two operators?)
 
  • #38
Two operators are equal if and only if they do the same thing to an arbitrary element. That is

S=T \quad \Leftrightarrow \quad Sx = Tx
 
  • #39
Ok, so using the same ideas I can prove S=T \Rightarrow \langle Sx\,|\,x \rangle = \langle Tx\,|\,x \rangle like this:

Suppose S=T. Then by the equality of operators we have Sx = Tx. Then we have \langle Sx\,|\,x \rangle = \langle Tx\,|\,x \rangle and we are done.

How does this look?
 
Last edited:
  • #40
Yes, that looks like a good proof of that statement.

(But, as emieno was saying, you could skip the step saying that Sx=Tx)
 

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