ANOTHER LOOK AT INHERITANCE OF UNIFORM

CONTINUITY OF 1-DIMENSIONAL AGGREGATION

FUNCTIONS BY THEIR SUPER-ADDITIVE
TRANSFORMATIONS
F. Kouchakinezhad and A. Šipošová

Dedicated to sincere professor Mashaallah Mashinchi

Article type: Research Article
(Received: 20 April 2022, Received in revised form: 29 Jun 2022)
(Accepted: 24 August 2022, Published Online: 30 August 2022)

Abstract. In an earlier paper by Šeliga, Širáň and the second author (J.
Mahani Math. Res. Center 8 (2019) 37–51) on lifting continuity prop-
erties of aggregation functions to their super-additive and sub-additive
transformations it was shown that uniform continuity is preserved by
super-additive transformations in dimension 1. We give a shorter and
more direct proof of this result and of a related linear bound on uni-
formly continuous aggregation functions.

Keywords: Aggregation function, Sub-additive and Super-additive trans-

formation, Uniform continuity
2020 MSC : 47S40

1. Introduction
An n-dimensional aggregation function is known to be an arbitrary mapping
A : [0, ∞[n → [0, ∞[ that is monotone in every coordinate and has zero value
at the origin, that is, A(0, . . . , 0) = 0. Aggregation functions have been studied
extensively both from the point of view of theory and applications; we refer
here to the monograph [1] and to the outlook paper [5] for various aspects
of the subject. A particularly fruitful stream of their study was initiated by
associating with every aggregation function A as above its super-additive and
sub-additive transformation, defined in [2] by
k
nX k
X o
A∗ (x) = sup A(x(j) ) ; x(j) ∈ [0.∞[n , x(j) = x , and
j=1 j=1
k
nX k
X o
A∗ (x) = inf A(x(j) ) ; x(j) ∈ [0, ∞[n , x(j) = x
j=1 j=1

[email protected], ORCID: 0000-0001-7891-7183

DOI: 10.22103/jmmr.2022.19356.1237 © the Authors
Publisher: Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman
How to cite: Fateme Kouchakinezhad, Alexandra Šipošová, Another look at inheritance of
uniform continuity of 1-dimensional aggregation functions by their super-additive
transformations, J. Mahani Math. Res. 2022; 11(3): 191-195.

191
192 F. Kouchakinezhad and A. Šipošová

for any x ∈ [0, ∞[n . In what follows we will only be considering the super-
additive transformation, and note that the supremum in its definition may
turn out to be infinite. However, by an appropriately modified claim from [3],
if that happens for some point in [0, ∞[n with all non-zero coordinates, then the
values of the super-additive transformation are infinite at every point in [0, ∞[n
except at the origin. Motivated by this, an aggregation function A will be said
to have a non-escaping cover if all values of its super-additive transformation
A∗ are finite, i.e., if A∗ is well-defined everywhere on [0, ∞[n .
In [7] the authors considered the natural question of which continuity-type
properties of an aggregation function carry over to its super- and/or sub-
additive transformation, which was also motivated by continuity conditions
appearing in some results of [4] on aggregation functions with prescribed super-
additive and sub-additive transformations. The most intriguing case appears
to be the one of inheritance of uniform continuity of aggregation functions by
their super-additive transformations, which was in [7] resolved only in dimen-
sion n = 1. The purpose of this note is to give a much simpler and more direct
proof of this result (which was stated as Theorem 4 in [7]), simplifying also
the proof of an important bound (stated as Proposition 1 in [7]) in dimension
1 with the help of an interesting result on 1-dimensional uniformly continuous
functions on unbounded domains [6]. Regarding our restriction to the case
n = 1 it should be noted that results on one-dimensional aggregation func-
tion proved to be important in the development of more sophisticated methods
applicable to higher dimensions, cf. e.g. [8].

2. Results
As indicated, we begin by giving an alternative proof of a useful linear bound
on the values of a uniformly continuous increasing function with zero value at
the origin. We actually prove the bound under much milder assumptions and
with the help of a somewhat neglected result – Theorem 3.1 of [6] – on uniformly
continuous functions on unbounded intervals.
Proposition 1. Let A : [0, ∞[→ [0, ∞[ be a continuous aggregation function
with a non-escaping cover. Assume that there exist positive real numbers c
and d such that A(x) − A(y) ≤ d whenever x ≥ y and x − y ≤ c; in particular,
this holds if A is uniformly continuous on [0, ∞[. Then there exists a positive
real number αA such that A(z) ≤ αA z for every z ∈ [0, ∞[.
Proof. Let c and d be as in the above statement. The fact that the ratio
A(z)/z is bounded above for z ∈]0, c[ for any positive real number c follows
from [3] and also from [7] by the assumption that A has a non-escaping cover;
the upper bound in general depends on c and so can be written in the form
A(z) ≤ a(c) for some positive real number a(c) but this will not be an issue here.
Further, by a straightforward adaptation of Theorem 3.1 of [6], there exists a
positive real number b = b(c, d) (depending in general on c and d) such that
 Another look at inheritance of uniform... – JMMR Vol. 11, No. 3 (2022) 193

A(z) ≤ bz for every z ∈ [c, ∞[. From the two upper bounds A(z) ≤ a(c)z for
z ∈ [0, c[ and A(z) ≤ b(c, d)z one easily obtains the existence of some positive
real αA such that A(z) ≤ αA z for every z ∈ [0, ∞[. 

With this tool we are now ready to give a simpler and more direct proof
of inheritance of uniform continuity of increasing functions on [0, ∞[ with zero
value at the origin by their super-additive transformations.

Theorem 1. Let A : [0, ∞[→ [0, ∞[ be an aggregation function with a non-

escaping cover. If A is uniformly continuous, then so is its super-additive
transformation A∗ .

Proof. We need to show that for every ε > 0 there exists a δ = δ(ε) such
that for an arbitrary pair x, y ∈ [0, ∞[ such that x ≥ y and x − y < δ it
holds that A∗ (x) − A∗ (y) < ε. Thus, let an arbitrary ε > 0 be given. By
the assumed uniform continuity of A, to the positive real ε/4 there exists a
δ0 > 0 such that for any non-negative real x ≥ y, the inequality x − y < δ0
implies A(x) − A(y) < ε/4. Further, let αA be the positive real number from
Proposition 1 associated with A, i.e., with the property that A(z) ≤ αA z for
every z ∈ [0, ∞[.
Set now δ = min{ε/(2αA ), δ0 } and let x, y be non-negative real numbers with
x > y and x − y < δ. By the definition of the super-additive transformation A∗
of A, there is a sequence (xj ), 1 ≤ j ≤ n, of positive real numbers (for some n)
such that
n
X
(1) A∗ (x) < ε/4 + A(xj )
j=1

Let m be the smallest positive integer such that x1 + · · · + xm > y. (We note
that we do not assume any ordering among the members of the sequence (xj )).
Define a new sequence (yj ), 1 ≤ j ≤ m, of non-negative real numbers by letting
yj = xj for every j such that 1 ≤ j ≤ m − 1, and ym = y − (x1 + · · · + xm−1 ).
Observe that y1 + · · · + ym = y, and xm − ym = (x1 + · · · + xm ) − y ≤ x − y < δ.
Furthermore, if n > m, then we also have xm+1 + · · · + xn < x − y < δ. In such
a case, again by definition of A∗ and then by application of Proposition 1 and
by the way the parameter δ has been introduced one has
n
X
(2) A(xj ) ≤ A∗ (δ) ≤ αA δ < ε/2
j=m+1

But then, irrespective of whether m = n or m < n, summing up the above

facts together with (1) and (2) and merging them with the obvious inequality
A∗ (y) ≥ A(y1 ) + · · · + A(ym ) and taking into the account that xj = yj for
194 F. Kouchakinezhad and A. Šipošová

1 ≤ j ≤ m we obtain
n
X m
X
A∗ (x) − A∗ (y) < ε/4 + A(xj ) − A(yj ) = ε/4 + A(xm ) − A(ym )
j=1 j=1
n
X
+ A(xj ) < ε
j=m+1

because A(xm ) − A(ym ) < ε/4; note that the last sum above is void if m = n.
This completes the proof. 

The converse to Theorem 1 is obviously false; if A∗ is uniformly continuous

then A does not even have to be continuous. For example, if A(x) = x for
x ∈ [0, 2] ∪ [4, ∞[ and A(x) = 1 + x/2 for x ∈ [2, 4[, then trivially A∗ (x) = x
for x ∈ [0, ∞[ while A is discontinuous.

3. Summary
In this note we have given a simplified proof of inheritance of uniform con-
tinuity of 1-dimensional aggregation functions on [0, ∞[ to their super-additive
transformations, based on a new and shorter proof of a linear upper bound on
1-dimensional uniformly continuous aggregation functions (even under a much
milder conditions), extending and improving thereby some results of [7].

Acknowledgement. The second author acknowledges support from the

APVV Research Grants 17-0066 and 18-0052, and from the VEGA Research
Grant 1/0006/19.

References
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[3] K. Hriňáková and A. Šeliga, Remarks on super-additive and sub-additive transforma-
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 Another look at inheritance of uniform... – JMMR Vol. 11, No. 3 (2022) 195

Fateme Kouchakinezhad
Orcid number: 0000-0001-7891-7183
Department of Statistics
Faculty of Mathematics and Computer
Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman
Kerman, Iran
Email address: [email protected]

Alexandra Šipošová
Orcid number: 0000-0003-1263-0264
Faculty of Civil Engineering
Slovak University of Technology
Bratislava, Slovakia
Email address: [email protected]