Properties of Affine Sets and Affine Hulls

Characterizations and closure properties of affine sets; representation of aff(Ω).
Properties of Affine Sets and Affine Hulls

Let XX be a and let ΩX\Omega\subset X.

Proposition (key properties):

  1. Ω\Omega is iff it contains all of its elements.
  2. If Ω,Ω1,Ω2\Omega,\Omega_1,\Omega_2 are affine, then Ω1+Ω2\Omega_1+\Omega_2 and λΩ\lambda\Omega (for any scalar λ\lambda) are affine.
  3. If B:XYB:X\to Y is an and ΩX\Omega\subset X is affine, then B(Ω)YB(\Omega)\subset Y is affine; if ΘY\Theta\subset Y is affine, then B1(Θ)B^{-1}(\Theta) is affine.
  4. The affine hull aff(Ω)\operatorname{aff}(\Omega) is the smallest affine set containing Ω\Omega and admits the representation aff(Ω)={i=1mλiωi | i=1mλi=1, ωiΩ, mN}. \operatorname{aff}(\Omega)=\left\{\sum_{i=1}^m \lambda_i\omega_i \ \middle|\ \sum_{i=1}^m\lambda_i=1,\ \omega_i\in\Omega,\ m\in\mathbb{N}\right\}.
  5. A set Ω\Omega is a iff it is affine and contains 00.

Context: These results parallel the corresponding facts for and , with affine combinations replacing convex combinations.