首先,看看仿射集和凸集的定义:
- A set C is affine if the line through any two distinct points in C lies in C.
- A set C is convex if the line segment between any two points in C lies in C.
倘若没有注意到红色部分,上面的定义看起来非常相似。但就是这么一丁点文字上的不同,却带来了截然不同的东西。请看下面两个命题:
- Any line is affine. If it passed through zero, it is a subspace, hence also a convex cone.
- A line segment is convex, but not affine (unless it reduces to a point).