Every linear operator $T:X \to Y$ on a finite-dimensional normed space is bounded

Question

Exercise :

Show that if $X$ is a finite-dimensional normed space and $Y$ is a normed space, then every linear operator $T:X \to Y$ is bounded.

Attempt :

Since $X$ is finite-dimensional, say $\dim(X)=n$, there exists a basis $\{e1,e2,...,en\}$ of $X$ such that every element $x\in X$ can be written uniquely in the form:

$$\begin{align} \quad x = a_1e_1 + a_2e_2 + ... + a_ne_n \end{align}$$

where $a_1,a_2,\dots,a_n \in \mathbb R$.

Now, $\forall \; x \in X$, it is :

$$\begin{align} \quad \| T(x) \|_Y &= \| T (a_1e_1 + a_2e_2 + ... + a_ne_n) \|_Y \\ &= \| a_1 T(e_1) + a_2 T(e_2) + ... + a_n T(e_n) \|_Y \\ & \leq \sum_{k=1}^{n} |a_k| \| T(e_k) \|_Y \end{align}$$

Using the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality, we yield :

$$\begin{align} \quad \| T(x) \| & \leq \left ( \sum_{k=1}^{n} |a_k|^2 \right )^{1/2} \left ( \sum_{k=1}^{n} \| T(e_k) \|_Y^2 \right )^{1/2} \\ & \leq \left ( \sum_{k=1}^{n} |a_k|^2 \right )^{1/2} \cdot M \end{align}$$

But regarding equivalence of norm in correlation to finite-dimensional spaces, we have that :

$$\begin{align} \quad \| T(x) \|_Y & \leq M \| x \|_* \end{align}$$

Then, $\exists c_1,c_2 \in \mathbb R^+ : \forall x \in X$ it is :

$$\begin{align} \quad c_1 \| x \|_X \leq \| x \|_* \leq c_2 \| x \|_X \end{align}$$

Thus $\forall x \in X$ it is :

$$\begin{align} \quad \| T(x) \| & \leq c_1M \| x \|_X \end{align}$$

which tells us that $T$ is bounded.

Question : It seemed like a rather hard exercise to me so I am not sure if my proof/approach is definitely correct or rigorous enough. Any insight will be very helpful !

Answer 1

Your proof is both correct and rigorous. The only change I would suggest is that, instead of using Cauchy-Schwarz, you can take $M=\max\{\|Te_k\|:\ k=1,\ldots,n\}$ and then $$ \sum_{k=1}^{n} |a_k| \| T(e_k) \|_Y \leq M\,\sum_{k=1}^n|a_k|, $$ and you can use that norm to compare with the original.