1. Introduction
In 1984, the Kaleva–Seikkala’s type fuzzy metric space (briefly,
-
) was initiated by Kaleva and Seikkala [
1]. As we all know, the
-
possesses a rich structure with proper choices of binary operations. Much work has been performed in regard to
-
, see, e.g., [
2,
3,
4,
5]. In 1989, the notion of b-metric space (briefly,
b-
) was introduced by Bakhtin [
6] (see also Czerwik [
7]). A mass of fixed-point results in
b-
were studied by many authors over the past few years, see, e.g., [
8,
9,
10,
11].
Recently, the concept of Kaleva–Seikkala’s type fuzzy b-metric space (briefly,
-
) was given by Li et al. [
12], which generalizes the notions of
-
and
b-
and Banach type, Chatterjea type and Reich type fixed-point theorems were obtained. Notice that the Ćirić type fixed-point theorem was not involved in [
12]. It is widely known that the Ćirić-type fixed-point theorem [
13] extends other well-known fundamental metrical fixed-point theorems in the research literature (Banach [
14], Kannan [
15], Chatterjea [
16,
17], etc.). Based on the importance and application potential of quantitative science, many authors investigated heavily the generalizations of Ćirić fixed-point theorem in different directions in the last 20 years; see, e.g., [
8,
9,
18]. In particular, Kumam et al. [
19] in 2015 obtained the generalized Ćirić-type fixed-point theorems in metric spaces.
In this paper, we establish a generalized Ćirić-type fixed-point theorem in
-
. This result improves and extends some well-known results in the literature. Roughly speaking, the geometric interpretation of the generalized Ćirić-type contraction is that the metric between
and
can be controlled by the other nine metrics. In fact, there are 10 metrics between the 5 points
and
. In
Section 2, we recall some related definitions, basic properties and lemmas on
-
. In
Section 3, we state a definition of generalized Ćirić-type contraction in
-
. Moreover, we construct a new example to illustrate that a generalized Ćirić-type contraction map is obviously not a Ćirić-type contraction. In
Section 4, we first give two sufficient conditions to show that a generalized Ćirić-type contraction has a unique fixed point in the complete
-
. Second, we give two examples to illustrate our main result and show that two sufficient conditions are complete independence. Third, we give another example to show that the two conditions in our result are not necessary for the existence of unique fixed point. Finally, we give some corollaries on Ćirić-type fixed-point theorems in
-
. In
Section 5, as an application, we show the existence of solution to Volterra equation formulated in
-
.
2. Preliminaries
Throughout this paper, let , and denote the sets of natural numbers, positive integer numbers, real numbers, respectively.
Now, we recall some definitions about - as follows.
Definition 1 ([
20])
. Let be a mapping, whose α-level set is denoted by , η is called a fuzzy real number or fuzzy interval, if the following two conditions are satisfied:- (1)
There exists such that .
- (2)
is a closed interval of for each , where .
Let denote the set of all such fuzzy real numbers. If and whenever , then η is called a non-negative fuzzy real number, and denotes the set of all non-negative fuzzy real numbers.
Definition 2 ([
12])
. Assume that a non-empty set, and that is a mapping from into . Let be two non-decreasing and symmetric functions, such that and . For and , defineThen, is called a fuzzy b-metric, and the quintuple is called a fuzzy b-metric space (briefly, -) with the coefficient b, if- (BM1)
if, and only if, ;
- (BM2)
for all ;
- (BM3)
for all :
- (BM3)
, whenever and ;
- (BM3𝕽)
, whenever and .
In the following propositions we state some properties. (For details see [
12]).
Proposition 1. Let be a -, for , where . Then
- (1)
- (2)
is a left continuous and non-increasing function for.
- (3)
is a left continuous and non-increasing function for .
Proposition 2. Let be a -, and assume that
- (𝕽1)
;
- (𝕽2)
for each there exists such that for all ;
- (𝕽3)
.
Then .
Proposition 3. Let be a -. Then (2) ⇒ for each , there exists such that
The following definition and lemma were introduced by Li et al. [
12].
Definition 3. Let be a - and be a sequence in .
- (1)
is said to be converge to , if , equivalently, for each ;
- (2)
is called a Cauchy sequence, if , i.e., for any given and , there exists , such that , whenever ;
- (3)
If every Cauchy sequence in converges, is called complete.
Under (2), the limit of the sequence in - is unique.
Lemma 1. Let be a - with (2) and be a sequence. If there exist such thatthen . 3. Generalized Ćirić-Type Contraction
The definition of generalized Ćirić-type contraction on an ordinary metric space was introduced by Kumam et al. [
19]. Analogously, we shall give the notion of generalized Ćirić-type contraction in
-
.
Definition 4. Assume that () be a - with (2) and the coefficient , be a selfmap. Then is called a generalized Ćirić-type contraction, if there exists such thatfor all and . Remark 1. The definition of usual Ćirić-type contraction was obtained by reducing four values to a generalized Ćirić-type contraction.
Notice that the Ćirić-type contraction is the generalized Ćirić-type contraction in -, but, in general, the converse is not true. Next, we give a new example to show that there exists a generalized Ćirić-type contraction and it is not a Ćirić-type contraction.
Example 1. Let , where and g are five distinct indexes, , and define , as follows where
Let be a mapping defined by
for any .
Let be a mapping. If , we define for any . If with is defined by
and , ,
then the following assertions hold:
(1) is a complete b- with the coefficient ;
(2) is a complete - with the coefficient ;
(3) is a generalized Ćirić-type contraction in ( with contraction constant . However, T is not a Ćirić-type contraction.
Proof. (1) For any , the following five cases are considered:
Case b1. If ;
Case b2. If and , where ;
Case b3. If and , where ;
Case b4. If and , where ;
Case b5. If , and , where .
It is easy to see that .
In addition, for any Cauchy sequence in , then there exists such that for all , where . Thus, we can easily prove that is complete. So, is a complete b- with the coefficient .
(2) Clearly, (BM1) and (BM2) of Definition 2 hold.
To see (BM3). By a simple calculation, we obtain for all .
(i) We prove (BM3
) with
, equivalently, if
satisfy
then holds.
Now, the following three cases are considered, since , and .
Case
1. Assume that
and
. We have
Case
2. Assume that
and
. We have
Case
3. Assume that
or
. We have
(ii) We prove (BM3
) with
, equivalently, if
satisfy
then holds.
Now, the following three cases are considered, since , and .
Case
1. Assume that
and
. We have
Case
2. Assume that
or
. We have
Case 3. Assume that and . For .
(i) If
and
, then
(ii) If
or
, we may assume that
, then
(iii) If
. Note that
We thus conclude that ( is a -.
On the other hand, it follows from the definition of
that
for all
. Hence, we have
Moreover, from (1), we obtain that ( is a complete - with .
(3) For any , the following four cases are considered:
Case 1. If , or , ; we may assume that , , where , we have
Case 2. If or ; we may assume that , we have , , where .
Case 3. If , where ; for , we have , where .
Case 4. If , where , or ; for , we may assume that , we have , , where .
The above calculations show that T is not Ćirić-type contraction for , because there is no a non-negative number satisfying the Ćirić-type contraction condition. However, it follows that T is a generalized Ćirić-type contraction in with contraction constant and for all . □
Remark 2. In Example 1, the domain for , and g is less important than one might expect. In fact, one may exploit the same kind of argument with real (complex) numbers instead of indexes.
4. Fixed-Point Theorem for Generalized Ćirić-Type Contraction
Now, we prove and state a fixed-point theorem for a generalized Ćirić-type contraction in -.
The following lemmas play a crucial role in the proof of Cauchy sequence.
Lemma 2. Let ( be a - with (2), be a map and . Let be a sequence by , for each , (where it is understood that ). Definewhere and for any . If T is a generalized Ćirić-type contraction with contraction constant , Then , where . Proof. For
,
, with
and
. Suppose that
, Since
T is a generalized Ćirić-type contraction with
, we have
thus we have
□
Remark 3. It follows from Lemma 2 that , where and for any . Indeed, since , where we have Lemma 3. Let ( be a - with (2), be a generalized Ćirić-type contraction with contraction constant . For , let be a sequence by , for all , (where it is understood that ). Then is a Cauchy sequence in .
Proof. First we prove that the following assertion holds. There exists , such that , for any .
Since for any
, there exists
, such that
. If
, for any
, then assertion holds. Otherwise, if
, for some
, then there exists integer
, such that
for any
and
. Applying a triangle inequality and Lemma 2. For any
, then there exists
, such that
Therefore, we have for any , where , .
Next, we shall show that is a Cauchy sequence in . For any with and , T be a generalized Ćirić-type contraction, it follows from Lemma 2 that Moreover, it follows from that Hence, is a Cauchy sequence in . □
As we have seen that the metric
d in
b-
is discontinuous in general and
d does not have Fatou property. Moreover, it follows that Fatou property is strictly weaker than continuity (see [
21]). It is easily seen that the metric
has the analogous property in the
-
(
). In order to study the existence and uniqueness of the fixed-point for such mappings, we assume that
has the Fatou property.
The following notion of the Fatou property is due to Li et al. [
12].
Definition 5. Let be a - with (2). is called to have the Fatou property if, for any ,whenever with and any . Now we can state our main result.
Theorem 1. Let be a complete - with (2), be a generalized Ćirić-type contraction with contraction constant . If one of the following conditions is satisfied
- (1)
has the Fatou property,
- (2)
,
then T has a unique fixed-point in .
Proof. Given , set a sequence by , for each , (where it is understood that ). It follows from Lemma 3 that is a Cauchy sequence in . Notice that be a complete -. Therefore, there exists such that , for all .
If (1) holds, we show that
v is a fixed-point of
T. Assume that, on the contrary,
, that is,
for some
. Since
T is a generalized Ćirić-type contraction with
, we have
Using the fact that
and
has the Fatou property, we obtain
On the other hand, since:
Combining Equations (
3)–(
5), we obtain that:
which is a contradiction. Thus, and T has a fixed-point in .
If
T has another fixed-point
, that is
and
, then
for some
. Since
which is a contradiction. Hence , i.e., T has a unique fixed-point in .
Next, we verify (2). Since
T is a generalized Ćirić-type contraction with
, we have
for any and .
Note that for any , the following three cases are discussed.
(i) If
, since for any
, there exists
, such that
we obtain
(ii) If
, then
which deduces
(iii) If
, then
which deduces
Therefore, by the above, we obtain that
for any
and
. Since
, for any
, we have that
, where
.
Hence, by Equation (
6), we conclude that
By Lemma 1, we have . It is immediate from the proof of (1) that T has the unique fixed-point v in . □
Remark 4. It is immediate from Theorem 1 that we can conclude Theorem 3.1 in [19] and Theorem 1 in [13]. The next result readily follows from the above theorem.
Corollary 1. Let be a complete - with (2), be a generalized Ćirić-type contraction with contraction constant , for some . If one of the following conditions is satisfied
- (1)
has the Fatou property,
- (2)
,
then T has a unique fixed-point in .
Proof. By the conclusion of Theorem 1, has a unique fixed-point u in and , it implies that , that is, T has a fixed-point u. Its uniqueness is obvious. □
To illustrate Theorem 1 we construct two examples, and show that these two conditions in Theorem 1 are complete independence. Next, we present an example that satisfies in Theorem 1, but nor is satisfied.
Example 2. Let , where , and g are five distinct indexes, , and define , as follows where , .
Let be a mapping defined byfor any , and be a mapping. If , we define for any . If with is defined by and , ,then the following assertions hold: (1) is a complete b- with the coefficient ;
(2) ( is a complete - with (2) and the coefficient ;
(3) is a generalized Ćirić-type contraction in ( with contraction constant . However, T is not a Ćirić-type contraction;
(4) has the Fatou property;
(5) T has a unique fixed-point in .
Proof. (1) The proof is analogous to the proof of Example 1.
(2) It is clear that (2) holds. Moreover, the inclusion can be proved in the same way as in the proof of Example 1, the only difference being that Case 3 with .
Case 3. Assume that and . For .
(i) If
and
, then
(ii) If
or
, we may assume that
, then
(iii) If
. Note that
We thus conclude that ( is a -.
On the other hand, it follows from the definition of
that
for all
. Hence, we have
Moreover, by (1), we obtain that ( is a complete - with (2) and the coefficient .
(3) For any , the following four cases are considered:
Case 1. If , or , ; we may assume that , , where , we have where .
Case 2. If or ; we may assume that , we have , , where .
Case 3. If , where ; for , we have , where .
Case 4. If , where , or ; for , we may assume that , we have , , where .
The above calculations present that T is not Ćirić-type contraction for , because there is no a non-negative number satisfying the Ćirić-type contraction condition. However, it follows that T is a generalized Ćirić-type contraction in ( with and for all .
(4) Now, we will show that has the Fatou property.
Given
. Let
be a sequence in
and
converges to
x. If there exists
, s.t.
for any
, then, for any
,
Otherwise, we may assume that for all . The following two cases are considered.
Case F1. If , where and . It follows from that there exists , s.t. for all . Hence, for each , we have .
Case F2. If , where . In this case, we discuss the following three subcases.
Case F2a. If
. Since
converges to
, then there exists
, s.t.
for any
. We thus conclude that
for any
. Hence we have
.
Case F2b. If
. Thus, there exists
, s.t.
for any
. Hence, we find that
Hence we find .
Case F2c. If
. In this case, if
, then
and
, where
. So we suppose
. Since
for all
, we obtain that
In light of the above, it is clear that has the Fatou property.
(5) It is obvious that there exist a unique , such that . Hence, T has a unique fixed-point in . □
In the following example, in Theorem 1 holds, but nor is satisfied.
Example 3. Let , where and g are five distinct indexes, , and define , as follows where , .
Let be a mapping defined byfor any , and be a mapping. If , we define for any . If with is defined by and , ,then the following assertions hold: (1) is a complete b- with the coefficient ;
(2) ( is a complete - with (2) and the coefficient ;
(3) is a generalized Ćirić-type contraction in ( with . However, T is not a Ćirić-type contraction;
(4) fails to have the Fatou property;
(5) T has a unique fixed-point in .
Proof. (1). The proof is analogous to the proof of Example 1.
(2). The inclusion can be proved in the same way as in the proof of Example 2.
(3). For any , we discuss the following four cases:
Case 1. If , or , ; we may suppose that , , where , we have where .
Case 2. If or ; we may suppose that , we find , , where .
Case 3. If , where ; for , we have , where .
Case 4. If , where , or ; for , we may suppose that , we have , , where .
The above calculations show that T is not Ćirić-type contraction for , because there is no a non-negative number satisfying the Ćirić-type contraction condition. However, it follows that T is a generalized Ćirić-type contraction in ( with contraction constant and for any .
(3). Now, we show that fails to have the Fatou property.
Choose
and
. Then, for
, we have that
as
. Since
where
, we obtain that
fails to have the Fatou property.
(4). It is obvious that there exist a unique , such that . Hence, T has a unique fixed-point in . □
Remark 5. It is noteworthy that in Example 2 and Example 3, if we took , when and , it is easy to obtain that the following assertions hold:
(1) If , then and fails to have the Fatou property.
(2) If , then and has Fatou property.
The following example illustrates that the conditions in Theorem 1 are sufficient but not necessary for the existence of unique fixed-points.
Example 4. Let , where , and g are five distinct indexes, , and define , as follows where , .
Let be a map defined by for any , and be a mapping. If , we define , for any . If with is defined by and , ,
then the following assertions hold:
(1) ( is a complete - with (2) and the coefficient ;
(2) is a generalized Ćirić-type contraction in ( with . However, T is not a Ćirić-type contraction;
(3) fails to have the Fatou property;
(4) T has a unique fixed-point in .
Proof. (1). The inclusion can be proved in the same way as in the proof of Example 3.
(2). For any , we discuss the following four cases:
Case 1. If , or , ; we may suppose that , , where , we have where .
Case 2. If or ; we may suppose that , we have , , where .
Case 3. If , where ; for , we have , where .
Case 4. If , where , or ; for , we may suppose that , we have , , where .
The above calculations show that T is not a Ćirić-type contraction for , because there is no a non-negative number satisfying the Ćirić-type contraction condition. However, it follows that T is a generalized Ćirić-type contraction in ( with contraction constant and for all .
(3). It follows from Example 3 that fails to have the Fatou property.
(4). It is obvious that there exist a unique , such that . Hence, T has a unique fixed-point in . □
Next, we give some corollaries on Ćirić-type fixed-point theorems in -.
Corollary 2. Let be a complete - with (2), be a Ćirić-type contraction with contraction constant , which satisfies one of the following conditions,
- (1)
,
- (2)
has the Fatou property,
then T has a unique fixed-point in .
Remark 6. It is immediate from Corollary 2 that we can conclude Theorem 13 in [12]. Corollary 3. Let be a complete - with (2), be a Ćirić-type contraction with contraction constant , for some . If one of the following conditions are satisfied
- (1)
,
- (2)
satisfies the Fatou property,
then T has a unique fixed-point in .
Remark 7. It is immediate from Corollary 3 that we can conclude one of the main results of Theorem 2 in [13]. 5. Existence of Solution to Volterra Integral Equation
Integral equation theory plays an important role in applied mathematics. Volterra integral equations are used in many fields of physics, such as actuarial sciences, demography, potential theory and Dirichlet problems, reactor theory, electrostatics, among others [
10,
22,
23].
Let us discuss the following Volterra integral equation:
By applying Corollary 1, we show the existence of solution to the Equation (
7).
Example 5. Suppose that the Equation (7) satisfies the following conditions; and are continuous for . Then, the Equation (7) has a unique solution in . Indeed, let
, and define
, as follows
where
.
be a mapping. If
, we define
, for any
. If
with
is defined by
and
,
,
Notice that ( is a complete - with (2) and the coefficient , and satisfies the Fatou property.
Next, we shall show that
is a generalized Ćirić-type contraction in (
, for some
.
where
. Moreover, we have:
By induction, for any
, we conclude that
Furthermore, we have that:
By the proof of Example 1, we have , for all .
Since , then there exists a finite positive integer k such that . Hence, we have that is a generalized Ćirić-type contraction in (, for some .
So, by applying Corollary 1,
T has a unique fixed-point in
, i.e., the Equation (
7) has a unique solution in
.
In particular, the following Volterra integral equation is considered:
Define
as follows:
Note that, since , we have . Thus, is a generalized Ćirić-type contraction.
It is not difficult to verify that
is the unique solution for Equation (
9).
6. Conclusions
In this paper, we research a generalized Ćirić-type fixed-point theorem in
-
. Roughly speaking, the
-
is much broader and the generalized Ćirić-type contraction is much weaker. Our main result improves some fixed-point theorems in the literature, such as a fixed-point theorem of the Ćirić-type contraction in metric spaces ([
13], Theorem 1), a fixed-point theorem of the generalized Ćirić-type contraction in metric spaces ([
19], Theorem 3.1), a fixed-point theorem of the Ćirić-type contraction in
b-
([
21], Theorem 3) and a fixed-point theorem of the Reich type contraction in
-
([
12], Theorem 13). As an application, we show the existence of solution to Volterra equation in
-
.
In addition, from Example 4, we see that two sufficient conditions are not necessary for the existence of unique fixed-point. Naturally, the question arises, what is the only necessary condition for the existence of unique fixed-point theorems for generalized Ćirić-type contractions in -?
As future research direction, we point out the following:
1. To study necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of unique fixed-point theorems for generalized Ćirić-type contractions in -;
2. To study fixed-point theorems for contractions of Boyd–Wong type in -.