On the Cauchy-Hamel Continuity of Real Functions

Abstract

We compare several "pathological" notions of continuity that make every additive function continuous. Our goal is to determine which of these notions is best behaved and deserves to be called Cauchy-Hamel continuity. The conclusion is that a bilateral version of a previously introduced notion of Q-continuity seems the most promising candidate. Our work is relevant to the axiomatic foundations of mechanics, specifically to the problem of axiomatically characterizing the parallelogram rule for the composition of forces. It was noted by Darboux that a continuity assumption is needed for such a characterization of the parallelogram rule and that, absent such a continuity axiom, "exotic" physical models based on alternative composition rules may exist. An intriguing question is whether such exotic physical models still possess some weak, residual notion of continuity. The concepts studied in this paper offer a first hint of a response to this question.