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Viewing Version 8 of 'vector p-norm'
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Title of object: vector p-norm
Canonical Name: VectorPnorm
Type: Definition

Created on: 2001-10-06 03:09:31
Modified on: 2006-10-13 02:10:25

Creator: Andrea Ambrosio
Modifier: Andrea Ambrosio
Author: Andrea Ambrosio
Author: drini
Author: Logan

Classification: msc:46B20
Defines: Manhattan metric, Taxicab, L^1 norm, L^1 metric, L^2 metric, L^2 norm, L^\infty norm
Synonyms: vector p-norm=Minkowski norm
vector p-norm=Euclidean vector norm
vector p-norm=vector Euclidean norm
vector p-norm=vector 1-norm
vector p-norm=vector 2-norm
vector p-norm=vector infinity-norm
vector p-norm=L^p metric
vector p-norm=L^p

Revision comment (for changes between this and next version):

Changes for correction #10581 ('force the link').

Preamble:

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Content:

A class of vector norms, called a $p$-norm and denoted $||\cdot||_p$, is defined as

\begin{displaymath}
||\,x\,||_p = (|x_1|^p + \cdots + |x_n|^p)^\frac{1}{p}\qquad p\geq1, x\in\R^n
\end{displaymath}

The most widely used are the 1-norm, 2-norm, and $\infty$-norm:

\begin{eqnarray*}
||\,x\,||_1 & =& |x_1| + \cdots + |x_n| \\
||\,x\,||_2 & =& \sqrt{|x_1|^2 + \cdots + |x_n|^2} = \sqrt{x^Tx} \\
||\,x\,||_\infty & =& \displaystyle\max_{1\leq i\leq n}|x_i|
\end{eqnarray*}

The 2-norm is sometimes called the Euclidean vector norm, because
$||\,x-y\,||_2$ yields the Euclidean distance between any two vectors $x,y\in \R^n$. The 1-norm is also called the taxicab metric (sometimes Manhattan metric) since the distance of two points can be viewed as the distance a taxi would travel on a city (horizontal and vertical movements).

A useful fact is that for finite dimensional spaces (like $\R^n$) the three mentioned norms are \PMlinkid{equivalent}{4312}. Moreover, all $p$-norms are equivalent. This can be proved using that any norm has to be continuous in the $2$-norm and working in the unit circle.

The $L^p$-norm in function spaces is a generalization of these norms by using counting measure.