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MAT2125 Winter 2018 Assignment 1

The document contains instructions for Assignment 1 in MAT2125 Winter 2018. It lists 5 questions to answer, each worth 10 marks. Question 1 involves proving the additive identity and inverses are unique in a field. Question 2 involves proving properties of ordered fields. Question 3 proves a set defined by a polynomial is bounded above. Question 4 proves properties about upper bounds of sets. Question 5 uses the completeness axiom to prove there exists a cube root of 2. The assignment is due on January 18th at 1:00pm and must be submitted in the lecture.

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64 views4 pages

MAT2125 Winter 2018 Assignment 1

The document contains instructions for Assignment 1 in MAT2125 Winter 2018. It lists 5 questions to answer, each worth 10 marks. Question 1 involves proving the additive identity and inverses are unique in a field. Question 2 involves proving properties of ordered fields. Question 3 proves a set defined by a polynomial is bounded above. Question 4 proves properties about upper bounds of sets. Question 5 uses the completeness axiom to prove there exists a cube root of 2. The assignment is due on January 18th at 1:00pm and must be submitted in the lecture.

Uploaded by

kang
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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MAT2125 Winter 2018

Assignment 1
Due Thursday 18 January, 13:00, in the lecture.

Each question is worth 10 marks.

1. Let F be a field.

(a) Prove that the additive identity is unique: if there exist 0 ∈ F and
00 ∈ F such that a + 0 = a and a + 00 = a for all a ∈ F , then 0 = 00 .

(b) Prove that additive inverses are unique: for a ∈ F , if there exist b ∈ F
and b0 ∈ F such that a + b = 0 and a + b0 = 0, then b = b0 .

2. Let F be an ordered field.

(a) (Exercises 1.2.1) Prove that 1 > 0 in F .

(b) (Exercise 1.2.2) Prove that for all a, b, c ∈ F , if a < b and c < 0 then
a · c > b · c.

3. Suppose that p(x) is a monic polynomial of degree > 0 such that p(0) < 0:
that is,
p(x) = xn + an−1 xn−1 + · · · + a1 x + a0
where n ≥ 1, a0 , . . . , an−1 ∈ R, and a0 < 0. Prove carefully that the set

S := {x ∈ R : p(x) < 0}

is bounded above.

4. Let F be an ordered field, let S, T ⊆ F be nonempty sets, and let a, b ∈ F .

(a) Prove that if a is an upper bound for S and b is an upper bound for T
then a + b is an upper bound for

V := {x + y : x ∈ S and y ∈ T }.
(b) Prove that if a is the least upper bound for S and b is the least upper
bound for T then a + b is the least upper bound for V (as defined in
part (a)).

5. Using the completeness axiom, prove that there exists a ∈ R such that
a3 = 2.

Solutions.
1. (a):

00 = 00 + 0 (hypothesis) (2 marks)
= 0 + 00 (F1) (2 marks)
= 0. (hypothesis) (1 mark)

(b):

b=b+0 (F3) (1 mark)


= b + (a + b0 ) (hypothesis) (1 mark)
= (b + a) + b0 (F2) (1 mark)
= (a + b) + b0 (F1) (1 mark)
= 0 + b0 (hypothesis)
= b0 . (F3) (1 mark)

2. (a): Since 0 6= −1, we have two cases: (1 mark)


If 0 < −1 then by (O4),

0 = 0 · 0 < (−1) · (−1) = 1. (2 marks)


If −1 < 0 then using (O3), we get

0 = 1 + (−1) < 1 + 0 = 1. (2 marks)

(b): Since c < 0, we have −c > 0 by (O3). (2 marks)


Hence by (O4),
−a · c > −b · c. (2 marks)
We now add a · c + b · c to both sides and use (O3) to get
b · c > a · c. (1 mark)

3. Set
M := n max{−a0 , . . . , −an−1 , 1}. (1 mark)
We’ll show that M is an upper bound for S.
To do this, we will show that if x > M then x 6∈ S. (2 marks)
So, let x > M . Then for k = 0, . . . , n − 1,
xk ≥ x > M ≥ −nak , (2 marks)
ak 1
− k < ,
x n
ak 1
k
>− . (2 marks)
x n
Using this, we get
p(x) = xn + an−1 xn−1 + · · · + a1 x + a0
= xn (1 + an−1 x−1 + · · · + a1 x−n+1 + a0 x−n ) (1 mark)
1 1
> xn (1 − − · · · − ) (1 mark)
n n
= 0.
Hence, x 6∈ S, as required. (1 mark)

4. (a): Let z ∈ V , so that z = x + y for some x ∈ S and y ∈ T . (1 mark)


Then x ≤ a and y ≤ b. (1 mark)
Thus,
z =x+y (1 mark)
≤x+b (1 mark)
≤ a + b, (1 mark)
as required.

(b): Suppose that c is another upper bound for F , and for a contradiction,
that c < a + b. (1 mark)
Set  := a+b−c
2
. Then there exists x ∈ S such that x > a −  and y ∈ T
such that y > b − . (2 marks) Thus,
x + y > a −  + b −  = c,
which is a contradiction. (2 marks)

5. Define S := {x ∈ [0, ∞) : x3 ≤ 2}. (1 mark)

Claim. For b ∈ [0, ∞), b is an upper bound for S if and only if b3 ≥ 2.


First, if b3 ≥ 2 but b is not an upper bound, then there exists x ∈ S such
that x > b. Since x > b > 0 we also have x2 > b2 > 0 and then x3 > b3 ≥ 2.
This is a contradiction, since x ∈ S. (1 mark)
3
Conversely, suppose that b is an upper bound for S but b < 2. Define
 := 2 − b3 > 0 and x := b + 9b2 . (1 mark)
Note that b ≥ 1 and  ≤ 1. Then
   2   3
x3 = b3 + 3b2 2 + 3b +
9b 9b2 9b2
  
= b3 + + + (1 mark)
3 27b 93 b6
  
≤ a3 + + + (since b ≥ 1) (1 mark)
3 3 3
= a3 +  = 2.
Thus, x ∈ S. This is a contradiction, since x > b. (1 mark)
This proves the claim.
In particular, we see that S is bounded above, so by completeness, we
may set a := sup S. By the claim, we know that a3 ≥ 2. (1 mark)
3 3
To see that a = 2, suppose for a contradiction that a > 2. Set  :=
a3 − 2 > 0. Pick δ := min{1, 6a 2 , 2 } and set b := a − δ. (1 mark)
Then
b3 = a3 − 3a2 δ + 3a2 δ 2 − δ 3
≥ a3 − 3a2 δ − δ (since δ ≤ 1) (1 mark)
 
≥ a3 − 3a2 2 −
6a 2
3
= a −  = 2.
By the claim, it follows that b is an upper bound for S. But since b < a, this
contradicts that a is the least upper bound. (1 mark)

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