Constructive decomposition of a function of two variables as a sum of functions of one variable

Abstract

Given a compact set $K$ in the plane, which does not contain any triple of points forming a vertical and a horizontal segment, and a map $f\in C(K)$, we give a construction of functions $g,h\in C(\mathbb{R})$ such that $f(x,y)=g(x)+h(y)$ for all $(x,y)\in K$. This provides a constructive proof of a part of Sternfeld's theorem on basic embeddings in the plane. In our proof the set $K$ is approximated by a finite set of points.