Math 317 HW #7 Solutions

1. Exercise 3.3.5. Decide which of the following sets are compact. For those that are not
compact, show how Denition 3.3.1 breaks down. In other words, give an example of a
sequence contained in the given set that does not possess a subsequence converging to a limit
in the set.
(a) Q
Answer. Not compact. The sequence (1, 2, 3, . . .) is contained in Q, but has no convergent
subsequences.
(b) Q [0, 1]
Answer. Not compact. Dene the sequence (a
n
) recursively by setting a
1
= 1 and
a
n+1
=
1
4an
for all n = 1, 2, 3, . . .. Each a
n
is in the set Q [0, 1] but, as shown in HW
#5 Problem 1, the sequence (a
n
) converges to 2

3, which is irrational and hence not

in the set Q [0, 1].
(c) R
Answer. Not compact. The sequence (1, 2, 3, . . .) has no convergent subsequences.
(d) Z [0, 10]
Answer. Compact.
(e) {1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, . . .}
Answer. Not compact. The sequence (1/2, 1/3, 1/4, . . .) consists of elements of the set,
but the sequence (and, thus, any subsequence) converges to 0, which is not in the set.
(f) {1, 1/2, 2/3, 3/4, 4/5, . . .}
Answer. Compact.
2. Exercise 3.3.7. Decide whether the following propositions are true or false. If the claim is
valid, supply a short proof, and if the claim is false, provide a counterexample.
(a) An arbitrary intersection of compact sets is compact.
Answer. True. We know that arbitrary intersections of closed sets are closed. Moreover,
the arbitrary intersection of bounded sets will be bounded (since the intersection is
contained by every set in the intersection). Therefore, arbitrary intersections of closed
and bounded sets are closed and bounded, which implies the above statement.
(b) Let A R be arbitrary, and let K R be compact. Then, the intersection A K is
compact.
Answer. False. Consider A = (0, 1) and K = [0, 2]. Then K is closed and bounded, and
hence compact, but
A K = (0, 1),
which is not closed and hence cannot be compact.
(c) If F
1
F
2
F
3
F
4
is a nested sequence of nonempty closed sets, then the
intersection

n=1
F
n
= .
Answer. False. Consider F
n
= [n, +) for each n = 1, 2, 3, . . .. Then F
1
F
2
F
3

, but

n=1
F
n
= since for any r R, there exists N N such that r / [n, +) for
n N.
1
(d) A nite set is always compact.
Answer. True. Finite sets are always bounded (just let M = max{|a
1
|, . . . , |a
n
|} where
the set is {a
1
, . . . , a
n
}; then M is an upper bound for the set) and closed (since they
have no limit points). Since being closed and bounded is the same as being compact,
this implies that every nite set is compact.
(e) A countable set is always compact.
Answer. False. As we saw in Problem 1(a) above, the set Q is not compact even though
it is countable.
3. Exercise 3.3.8. Follow these steps to prove the nal implication in Theorem 3.3.8.
Assume K satises (i) and (ii), and let {O

: } be an open cover for K. For contradiction,

lets assume that no nite subcover exists. Let I
0
be a closed interval containing K, and bisect
I
0
into two closed intervals A
1
and B
1
.
(a) Why must either A
1
K or B
1
K (or both) have no nite subcover consisting of sets
from {O

: }?
Answer. The negation of the above statement is that both A
1
K and B
1
K have
nite subcovers. If that were true, then
(A
1
K) (B
1
K)
would have a nite subcover (since the sum of two nite numbers is nite). However,
this set is equal to
(A
1
K) (B
1
K) = (A
1
B
1
) K = I
0
K = K,
since K I
0
. Thus, both A
1
K and B
1
K having nite subcovers would imply that
K has a nite subcover, which were assuming is not true.
(b) Show that there exists a nested sequence of closed intervals I
0
I
1
I
2
with the
property that, for each n, I
n
K cannot be nitely covered and lim|I
n
| = 0.
Proof. In (a) we argued that either A
1
K or B
1
K has no nite subcover. If A
1
K
has no nite subcover, let I
1
= A
1
; otherwise, let I
1
= B
1
.
Inductively, assume weve dened I
k
I
k1
such that I
k
K has no nite subcover.
Lets bisect I
k
into two closed intervals A
k+1
and B
k+1
. By the same proof as in (a),
either A
k+1
K or B
k+1
K (or both) has no nite subcover; let I
k+1
= A
k+1
if the
former, and let I
k+1
= B
k+1
if the latter.
This gives us the desired sequence I
0
I
1
I
2
such that I
n
K has no nite
subcover for all n. Moreover, if d = |I
0
|, then
lim|I
n
| = lim

d
2
n

= 0.
(c) Show that there exists an x K such that x I
n
for all n.
2
Proof. We know, by the Nested Interval Property, that there exists x

n=0
I
n
. If
x / K, then x K
c
, which is open since K is closed. Therefore, there exists > 0 such
that V

(x) K
c
, meaning that
(x , x +) K
c
.
However, this will lead to a contradiction.
For any n > d/, |I
n
| = d/2
n
< d/n, so
I
n
[x d/n, x +d/n] (x , x +)
since d/n < . Thus, for n > d/, I
n
V

(x) K
c
, meaning that I
n
K = . This
is impossible since we constructed I
n
so that I
n
K cannot be nitely covered and the
empty set can clearly be nitely covered.
From this contradiction, then, we conclude that x K.
(d) Because x K, there must exist an open set O

0
from the original collection that
contains x as an element. Argue that there must be an n
0
large enough to guarantee
that I
n
0
O

0
. Explain why this furnishes us with the desired contradiction.
Proof. Since x K, there exists
0
such that x O

0
. Therefore, since O

0
is open,
there exists
0
> 0 such that
O

0
V

0
(x) = (x
0
, x +
0
).
Now, as we argued in part (c), if n
0
> d/
0
, then
I
n
0
(x
0
, x +
0
) O

0
.
However, this must not be possible: on the one hand, this implies that {O

0
} is a nite
open subcover for I
n
0
and, hence, for I
n
0
K; on the other hand, we dened I
n
0
such
that I
n
0
K has no nite subcover.
From this contradiction, then, we can conclude that if K satises (i) and (ii), then every
open cover of K has a nite subcover, completing the proof of Theorem 3.3.8.
4. Exercise 3.3.10. Lets call a set clompact if it has the property that every closed cover (i.e., a
cover consisting of closed sets) admits a nite subcover. Describe all of the clompact subsets
of R.
Answer. A set is clompact if and only if it is nite.
Proof. () Suppose, rst, that K is a clompact set, meaning that every closed cover has a
nite subcover. From Problem 2(d), we know that every nite set is compact (and hence
closed), so the collection of singleton sets {x} with x K gives a closed cover of K. In other
words,
{{x} : x K}
3
is a closed cover for K. By hypothesis, there exists a nite subcover {{x
1
}, {x
2
}, . . . , {x
n
}}.
By denition of a cover, this implies that
K {x
1
} {x
2
} {x
n
},
so K is nite.
() On the other hand, suppose K is nite. Let {V

: } be a closed cover for K. Since

K is nite, we can write
K = {x
1
, x
2
, . . . , x
n
}.
Now, since {V

: } is a cover, for each i = 1, 2, . . . , n, there exists

i
such that
x
i
V

i
. Therefore,
K = {x
1
, . . . , x
n
} V

1
V
n
,
so {V

1
, . . . , V
n
} is a nite subcover of K. Since the choice of closed cover was arbitrary,
we can conclude that every closed cover of a nite set has a nite subcover, so nite sets are
clompact.
Having proved both directions, we can conclude that a set is clompact if and only if it is
nite.
5. Exercise 3.4.3. Review the portion of the proof given for Theorem 3.4.2 and follow these steps
to complete the argument.
(a) Because x C
1
, argue that there exists an x
1
CC
1
with x
1
= x satisfying |xx
1
|
1/3.
Proof. Since x C
1
= [0, 1/3] [2/3, 1], clearly either x [0, 1/3] or x [2/3, 1]. If the
former, let x
1
= 0 if x = 0; otherwise let x
1
= 1/3. If the latter, let x
1
= 1 if x = 1;
otherwise, let x
1
= 2/3.
Whatever the case, x
1
C and both x and x
1
lie in an interval of length 1/3, so
|x x
1
| 1/3.
(b) Finish the proof by showing that for each n N, there exists x
n
C C
n
dierent from
x, satisfying |x x
n
| 1/3
n
.
Proof. Because
x C
n

3
n
1

k=0

2k
3
n
,
2k + 1
3
n

,
there exists k such that x

2k
3
n
,
2k+1
3
n

, which is an interval of length 1/3

n
. If x =
2k
3
n
,
then let x
n
=
2k
3
n
; otherwise, let x
n
=
2k+1
3
n
. By construction, x
n
C, x
n
= x, and
|x x
n
| 1/3
n
.
4
This process denes a sequence (x
n
) with x
n
C and x
n
= x. Moreover, if > 0, let
N > 1/. Then for any n N,
|x x
n
|
1
3
n
<
1
n

1
N
< .
Since our choice of > 0 was arbitrary, this implies that limx
n
= x, so x is a limit point
of C. Since the choice of x was arbitrary, this proves that every element of C is a limit
point, so C has no isolated points.
5