An introduction to the Hahn-Banach extension theorem: Part VI
In this post we sketch a second proof of the Hahn-Banach Extension Theorem for continuous linear functionals on real normed spaces, this time using transfinite induction. We omit some of the details, which the reader can fill in. In particular, some of the details are similar to those involved in proving the claim made in Part V (when we obtained an upper bound for a chain). For a non-zero ordinal $\gamma$, recall that, with ordinal interval notation, we have $\gamma=[0,\gamma)$. That is, $\gamma$ is equal to the set of all ordinals which are strictly less than $\gamma$. However, we use ordinal interval notation throughout. If you prefer to use $\gamma$ instead of $[0,\gamma)$ that is fine, of course! Looking at the Wikipedia page on the Hahn-Banach Theorem , apparently both Hahn and Banach (independently) used transfinite induction in their proofs, rather than Zorn's Lemma. Theorem (Hahn-Banach Extension Theorem for linear functionals on normed spaces over $\R$) Let $(E,\jnorm)$