1. Introduction and Preliminaries
Our exposition starts by looking back on some basic concepts, notations, and established results for metric, metric-like and partial metric spaces.
Metric spaces were introduced in 1906 by Maurice Fréchet in his seminal work [
1] as follows:
Definition 1. Let X be a nonempty set. A mapping is said to be a metric on X if for all the following three conditions hold:
(1) if and only if
(2)
(3)
If
is a metric on
then the pair
is said to be a metric space. The theory of metric spaces contains several branches of mathematical analysis: real analysis, complex analysis and multidimensional analysis (for more details, see [
2]).
Partial metric spaces were introduced in 1994 by Matthews [
3] as follows.
Definition 2. Let X be a nonempty set. A mapping is said to be a partial metric on X if for all the following four conditions hold:
(1) if and only if
(2)
(3)
(4)
Then, the pair
is called a partial metric space. It can be checked that every metric space is also a partial metric space. The opposite is not true. In that spirit, let
and partial metric be defined as
Under these circumstances
constitutes a partial metric space but it does not constitute a metric space, since
To acquire more details on this, we point to following works [
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9]:
Metric-like spaces were introduced in 2012 by A. Amini Harandi [
10] in following way:
Definition 3. Let X be a nonempty set. A mapping is said to be a metric-like on X if for the following three conditions hold:
(1) yields
(2)
(3)
The pair is called a metric-like space or dislocated metric space in some papers. A metric-like mapping on X satisfies all the conditions of a metric except that may be positive for some Below we assemble a short list of representative examples of partial metric and metric-like spaces:
1. where for all
It can be seen that is a partial metric space, and a metric-like space, but it is not a metric space, due to the fact that
2. where for all
It can be checked that is a metric-like space where for each Since it follows that does not hold. Hence, is not a partial metric space.
3. where and
Also, it can be seen that is a metric-like (that is a dislocated metric) space with This means that is not a standard metric space. However, also is not a partial metric space, because
4. where is the set of real continuous functions on and for all
This is an example of metric-like space that is not a partial metric space. Indeed, for we obtain Putting for all we obtain that
We note here that some of the metric-like spaces exemplified in the former list do not represent partial metric spaces. We also note that a partial metric space also represents a metric-like space but the opposite is not true. In the sequel, we will give the definitions related to sequences in metric-like spaces, on their convergence and Cauchyness (for more details, see [
7,
9,
10,
11,
12,
13]).
Definition 4. Let be a sequence in a metric-like space
- (i)
is said to converge to if
- (ii)
is said to be Cauchy in if exists and is finite;
- (iii)
A metric-like space
is
complete if for every
Cauchy sequence
in
X there exists an
such that
Interested readers can find more details on metric-like and partial metric spaces in following selected references (e.g., [
3,
6,
7,
9,
10,
11,
12]). Further investigation on generalization of metric spaces to other classes of generalized metric spaces and on definition of contractive mappings can be found in variety of papers [
2,
13,
14,
15,
16,
17,
18,
19,
20]:
Remark 1. Following remark is valid for the metric-like spaces, and also in the case of partial metric spaces. Notably, as examples in Remark 1.4 (1) and (2) in [6] illustrate, a sequence doesn’t need to have a unique limit and a convergent sequence doesn’t need to be a Cauchy sequence. On the other hand, if the sequence is Cauchy sequence in a way that holds in complete metric-like space then such a sequence has a unique limit. Demonstrably, in such a case if as we get that (from condition (iii) of Definition 4). Now, if and we get Under the condition (1) from Definition 3, what follows is that which forms a contradiction.
Otherwise, the sequence in metric-like space is called Cauchy if In this case the metric-like space is complete if in it each Cauchy sequence is convergent. Since every Cauchy sequence is Cauchy it yields that complete partial metric space is complete.
In the continuation of our exposition we present some statements valid for metric-like spaces, for which the proofs are immediate.
Proposition 1. Let be a metric-like space and be a sequence in it. Then we have the following:
- (i)
If converges to as and if then for all it follows that
- (ii)
If then
- (iii)
If then
- (iv)
If then
- (v)
holds for all where
- (vi)
Let If then there exists and sequences and such that and the following sequences tend to when If the condition (vi) is satisfied then the sequences and
also converge to when where For more details on (i)–(vi) the reader can see [7,13]. - (vii)
If is a Picard sequence in a metric-like space induced by a mapping and if for all then whenever
In 2012, Wardowski [
21] introduced a new type of mapping
named
contraction by defining a list of properties for the function
- (F1):
F is strictly increasing, i.e., yields
- (F2):
For each sequence in if and only if and
- (F3):
There exists such that
and proved a fixed point result as a generalization of the Banach contraction principle in different way. By we denote a family of functions satisfying properties (F1–F3).
Definition 5 ([
21]).
Let be a metric space. A mapping is called an F-contraction if there exists such thatfor all with where F satisfies (F1), (F2) and (F3). On the same line Secelean [
20] changed the condition (F2) of [
21] by an equivalent condition,
- (F2’)’:
or, also, by
- (F2”):
there exists a sequence of positive real numbers such that
and later Piri and Kumam [
18] replaced condition (F3) of [
21] by
- (F3’):
F is continuous on
Authors in [
22] take (F1) of [
21] and (F3’) of [
18] and denote the class of functions satisfying (F1) and (F3’) by
For more new results in this subject see [
16,
23,
24,
25,
26,
27].
2. Main Results
After giving the overview of the results related to metric, partial metric and metric-like spaces, as well as recollecting the notion of an F-contraction, the properties of function family involved with it, as well as some recent variations of the required set of function properties, we move to the main goal of the paper, which is an attempt to generalize, complement, unify, enrich and extend all the results recently obtained in [
24]. Namely, firstly in [
28] authors introduced and proved the following:
Definition 6 ([
28]).
Let be a metric space. A mapping is called an F-contraction of Hardy-Rogers-type if there exist and such thatholds for any with where are non-negative numbers, and Theorem 1 ([
28]).
Consider to be a complete metric space and let T be a mapping of X into itself. If one assumes that T is an F-contraction of Hardy-Rogers- type, with , then the mapping T has a fixed point. Further, if holds, then the fixed point of the mapping T is unique. After that, authors in [
24] proved the next proper generalization of results from [
28]:
Theorem 2 ([
24]).
Let T be a self-mapping of a complete metric space X. Suppose that there exists such that for all yieldswhere is a strictly increasing mapping, are non-negative numbers, Then T has a unique fixed point and for every the sequence converges to Second new generalization given also in [
24] shows that the monotonicity of
F is not a necessary condition.
Theorem 3 ([
24]).
Let T be a self-mapping of a complete metric space X. If we assume that there exists such that for all the following holdswhere is a mapping satisfying conditions (F2) and (F3”), where (F3”): F is continuous on with α being a positive real number.Then, the mapping T has a unique fixed point and for every the sequence converges to
As our first result in this section are new contractive conditions that follow from the previous two theorems. They complement the ones given in [
19,
29]. Here we formulate the following:
Corollary 1. Let be a complete metric space and be a self-mapping. Suppose that there exist such that for all the following inequalities hold:where while are non-negative numbers, Then in each of these cases, there exists such that and for every the sequence converges to Proof. As each of the functions is strictly increasing on the proof immediately yields by Theorem 2. It is clear that the proofs for (8–10) yields also by Theorem 3. □
Our second new result in this section is extending of Theorems 2 and 3 from standard metric to partial metric space. That is, we give the next:
Theorem 4. Let T be a self-mapping of a 0-complete partial metric space . Suppose there exists such that for all yieldswhere is a strictly increasing mapping, are non-negative numbers Then T has a unique fixed point and for every the sequence converges to Proof. First of all, (12) yields that
whenever
In the first step, we show that
T has a unique fixed point if it exists. Indeed, let
be two distinct fixed points of
From (13) follows
Since, then therefore (14) yields But, this is a contradiction.
Now, we consider the Picard’s sequence
induced by an arbitrary point
If
for some
then
is a unique fixed point of
Therefore, assume that
for all
For this case, according to (13) we get:
where
For the proof of the last inequality we used (
2) with
as well as (
4) with
Further, (15) and the last inequality imply
Since,
it follows that
Indeed, if
then
i.e.,
This means that
that is,
But this is a contradiction. Now, further (16) yields
for all
Since, the sequence
is strictly decreasing, so there exists
Suppose that
By the other hand (12) became
where
Since
F is strictly increasing there exists
so taking the limit as
in (18) we get
which is a contradiction. Hence,
Now, we can show that
is a
Cauchy sequence. If it is not, putting in (12)
we get:
where
Further, according to Proposition 1. (vi) we get
Since
, then
, so
. Now, taking the limit in (19) as
we obtain
which is a contradiction. Hence, we have proved that
is a
Cauchy sequence. Since
is a
-complete partial metric space, then
converges to some point
in
By (17) and Proposition 1. (vii) it follows that
for some
Assume that
Then according to (13) we get
for
Since,
we further have that
which is a contradiction. Hence,
is a unique fixed point of
□
It is worth to noticing that from our Theorem 4 follow several significant results in the context of 0-complete partial metric spaces. As a first we have the following:
Corollary 2. Let be a complete partial metric space and T be a self-mapping on Assume that there exist a strictly increasing mapping and such thatfor all with Then T has a unique fixed point in X and for every the sequence converges to Proof. Taking in Theorem 4 the result follows.
Also taking in Theorem 4, (resp. ) we get Reich (resp. Kannan; Chatterjea) type theorem in the context of complete partial metric spaces where is a strictly increasing mapping. □
The following new result shows that the monotonicity condition of F is not necessary:
Theorem 5. Let T be a self-mapping of a complete partial metric space . Suppose there exists such that for all yieldswhere is a mapping satisfying the conditions (F2) and (F3”). Then T has a unique fixed point and for every the sequence converges to
Proof. First, if
T has a fixed point then (23) yields that it is a unique. Further, if
is an arbitrary point in
X and the sequence
is the corresponding Picard’s sequence with
for some
then
is a unique fixed point of
Therefore, let
for all
. Hence, we assume that
for all
Now, by the hypothesis we get
as
Hence, according to (F2) it follows that
as
Further it is clear that
from which it follows
if
Now we can claim that
is a
Cauchy. Indeed, if it is not, putting
in (23) we obtain
By (F3”), taking the limit in (25) as
we get
which is a contradiction. Therefore,
is a
Cauchy sequence. Since,
is a
complete it yields that
converges to some point
We shall prove that
If it is not true, then (because
if
there exists
such that
Further, for such
n we have
By (F3”), taking the limit as in (26) we get Now, by (F2) and Proposition 1. (i) yields that This is a contradiction. Therefore, is a fixed point of Theorem is completely proved. □
Our third new result here is the extension of Theorems 2 and 3 from the ordinary metric space to metric-like space. The proofs are very similar to the proofs for Theorems 4 and 5 and that is why we omit them.
Theorem 6. Let T be a self-mapping of a complete metric-like space . Suppose there exists such that for all yieldswhere is a strictly increasing mapping, are non-negative numbers Then T has a unique fixed point and for every the sequence converges to In the following result as in Theorem 5 we show that the monotonicity condition of F is not necessary:
Theorem 7. Let T be a self-mapping of a complete metric-like space . Assume that there exists , such that for all yieldswhere is a mapping satisfying the conditions (F2) and (F3”), where (F3”): F is continuous on with α a positive real number. Then, the mapping T has a unique fixed point and for every the sequence converges to .
As the immediate corollaries of Theorem 4 we obtain several new contractive conditions that supplement the ones given in [
19,
29].
Corollary 3. Let T be a self-mapping of a complete partial metric space . Suppose there exist such that for all it followswhere while are non-negative numbers: Then in every of these cases (29)–(35) T has a unique fixed point and for the sequence converges to Proof. Take in Theorem 4, respectively. Because each of the mappings is strictly increasing on the result is an immediate consequence of Theorem 4. □
Finally, we state an application of Theorem 6 for solving fractional differential equations. This is in fact a support for our theoretical result established in Theorem 6. We will use metric like distance
For
a continuous function we recall the Caputo derivative of function
f order
as follows, see [
30,
31]
where
denotes the integer part of the positive real number
and
is a well known gamma function.
Our main purpose is to give an application to Theorem 6 to prove the existence of the solution for nonlinear fractional differential equation
with the boundary conditions
where
and
is the set of all continuous functions from
to ℝ and
is a continuous function, see [
32]. Let us give the Green’s function associated with the problem (36) as follows
Now we give the next main result that support our Theorem 6.
Theorem 8. Consider the nonlinear fractional differential Equation (36). Let be a given mapping and be a continuous function. Suppose that the following assertions are true: - (i)
there exists such that for all where is defined by - (ii)
there exists such that for all and yieldsfor all and with where are non-negative numbers, - (iii)
for each and
- (iv)
for each if is a sequence in such that in and for all then for all
Then problem (36) has at least one solution.
Proof. Let
endowed with the metric-like
We can prove easily that is a 0-complete metric-like space.
Obviously is a solution of (36) if and only if is a solution of the equation for all Then problem (36) can be considered to find an which is a fixed point for the mapping
Let
such that
for all
By (iii) we have
Then, by (i) and (ii) we get the next inequalities
If we take
for
and since
F is strictly increasing we get
Equivalently
where
is a strictly increasing mapping,
are non-negative numbers,
Applying Theorem 6. we deduce that
T has a fixed point, which yields that the Equation (
36) has at least one solution. □