Banach Fixed Point Theorem (contraction mapping principle): Let (X,d)(X,d) be a nonempty and let T:X→XT:X\to X be a with contraction constant c∈[0,1)c\in[0,1). Then:

  • There exists a unique x∗∈Xx^\ast\in X such that T(x∗)=x∗T(x^\ast)=x^\ast.
  • For any starting point x0∈Xx_0\in X, the iterates defined by
    xn+1=T(xn)(n≥0)x_{n+1}=T(x_n)\quad(n\ge 0)
    to x∗x^\ast.
  • Quantitative error bounds hold: for all n≥0n\ge 0,
    d(xn,x∗)≤cn1−c d(x1,x0),d(xn,x∗)≤cn d(x0,x∗).d(x_{n},x^\ast)\le \frac{c^{n}}{1-c}\,d(x_1,x_0), \qquad d(x_n,x^\ast)\le c^n\,d(x_0,x^\ast).
Remarks

This theorem is one of the main uses of completeness: it turns a global "shrinking" hypothesis into existence and uniqueness of solutions of T(x)=xT(x)=x.