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Brouwer fixed-point theorem for the closed unit ball in Rn\mathbb{R}^nRn

Proved
AGT.brouwer_fixed_point_unitBall

by korbonits · Sep 4, 2026 · Mathlib c5ea003 (Lean v4.30.0)

algorithmic-game-theorybrouwerfixed-point-theoremtopology

Brouwer's fixed-point theorem for the closed unit ball. Let n≥0n \ge 0n≥0 and let

B‾n={ x∈Rn:∥x∥2≤1 }\overline{B}^n = \{\, x \in \mathbb{R}^n : \|x\|_2 \le 1 \,\}Bn={x∈Rn:∥x∥2​≤1}

be the closed unit ball of Euclidean nnn-space. If f:B‾n→B‾nf : \overline{B}^n \to \overline{B}^nf:Bn→Bn is continuous, then fff has a fixed point:

∃ x∈B‾n,f(x)=x.\exists\, x \in \overline{B}^n,\qquad f(x) = x.∃x∈Bn,f(x)=x.

This is the topological core of Brouwer's theorem (Brouwer, 1911). The general form for an arbitrary nonempty compact convex subset KKK of a finite-dimensional real normed space (AGT.brouwer_fixed_point, the Brouwer milestone of the mission Algorithmic Game Theory I) reduces to this special case: after identifying the ambient space with Rn\mathbb{R}^nRn, the nearest-point projection P:Rn→KP : \mathbb{R}^n \to KP:Rn→K is a nonexpansive retraction, so a fixed point of the rescaled map y↦R−1f(P(Ry))y \mapsto R^{-1} f(P(Ry))y↦R−1f(P(Ry)) on B‾n\overline{B}^nBn, where K⊆B‾(0,R)K \subseteq \overline{B}(0,R)K⊆B(0,R), is a fixed point of fff on KKK. Conversely the ball is itself compact and convex, so the two statements are equivalent; this one isolates the part that needs a genuinely topological or combinatorial argument (Sperner's lemma, the no-retraction theorem via homology or Milnor's analytic argument, the Hex theorem, …), none of which is presently in Mathlib.

A note on the hypotheses. Continuity is only required on the ball and the values of fff outside the ball are irrelevant. The case n=0n = 0n=0 is included: R0\mathbb{R}^0R0 is a single point, the ball is that point, and it is trivially fixed. No nonemptiness hypothesis is needed because the closed unit ball is never empty.

Formalization Note. The ambient space is EuclideanSpace ℝ (Fin n), i.e. Rn\mathbb{R}^nRn with the ℓ2\ell^2ℓ2 norm, and the ball is Metric.closedBall 0 1. The map is given as a total function f:Rn→Rnf : \mathbb{R}^n \to \mathbb{R}^nf:Rn→Rn together with ContinuousOn f (closedBall 0 1) and Set.MapsTo f (closedBall 0 1) (closedBall 0 1), matching the conventions of the parent statement AGT.brouwer_fixed_point.

Preamble
import Mathlib.Analysis.InnerProductSpace.PiL2
Formal statement
namespace AGT

/-- **Brouwer fixed-point theorem for the closed unit ball.**  Every continuous
self-map of the closed unit ball of Euclidean space `ℝⁿ` has a fixed point.
This is the topological core of Brouwer's theorem: the general statement for
nonempty compact convex sets reduces to it by the nearest-point retraction. -/
theorem brouwer_fixed_point_unitBall (n : ℕ)
    (f : EuclideanSpace ℝ (Fin n) → EuclideanSpace ℝ (Fin n))
    (hf : ContinuousOn f (Metric.closedBall 0 1))
    (hfB : Set.MapsTo f (Metric.closedBall 0 1) (Metric.closedBall 0 1)) :
    ∃ x ∈ Metric.closedBall (0 : EuclideanSpace ℝ (Fin n)) 1, f x = x := by
  sorry

end AGT
Source
L. E. J. Brouwer, Über Abbildungen von Mannigfaltigkeiten, Math. Ann. 71 (1911), 97-115, https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01456931 (Satz 4, fixed points of continuous self-maps of the n-ball); unit-ball formulation as in J. Milnor, Analytic proofs of the "hairy ball theorem" and the Brouwer fixed point theorem, Amer. Math. Monthly 85 (1978), 521-524, p. 521 (Brouwer Fixed Point Theorem). Supporting result invoked without proof for Theorem 1.8 of Nisan-Roughgarden-Tardos-Vazirani (eds.), Algorithmic Game Theory, Cambridge 2007, https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511800481, Ch. 1, p. 12.

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