metric space (redirected from Metric spaces)

metric space

In mathematics, a set of objects equipped with a concept of distance. The objects can be thought of as points in space, with the distance between points given by a distance formula, such that: (1) the distance from point A to point B is zero if and only if A and B are identical, (2) the distance from A to B is the same as from B to A, and (3) the distance from A to B plus that from B to C is greater than or equal to the distance from A to C (the triangle inequality). Two- and three-dimensional Euclidean spaces are metric spaces, as are inner product spaces, vector spaces, and certain topological spaces (see topology).

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(mathematics)

metric space - A set of points together with a function, d, called a metric function or distance function. The function assigns a positive real number to each pair of points, called the distance between them, such that: 1. For any point x, d(x,x)=0; 2. For any two distinct points x and y, d(x,y)>0; 3. For any two points x and y, not necessarily distinct, d(x,y) = d(y,x). 4. For any three points x, y, and z, that are not necessarily distinct, d(x,z) <= d(x,y) + d(y,z). The distance from x to z does not exceed the sum of the distances from x to y and from y to z. The sum of the lengths of two sides of a triangle is equal to or exceeds the length of the third side.