LU - Department of Mathematics

Dr H. Gebran

Math 2201 Exercises of chapter 1 Fall 2017/2018

1. The purpose of this exercise is to prove the fundamental theorem that any nontrivial interval
of IR contains rational and irrational numbers. Let a and b be arbitrary real numbers such
that a < b.
a) Let q be an integer such that q > b 1 a and let p be the smallest integer that satises
p > qa. Show that q belongs to ]a; b[.
p

p
b) Let q be an integer
p such that q > b 2a and let p be the smallest integer that satises
p > p . Show that q 2 belongs to ]a; b[.
qa p
2

c) Conclude.
2. Let d be a metric on a set X . Show that jd(x; y) d(x; z)j  d(y; z). This is the second form
of the triangle inequality.
T S
3. Let (X; d) be a metric space and let a 2 X . Find ( ) and
B a; r ( ).
B a; r
r>0 r>0

4. Let A and B be two subsets of a metric space. Prove the following.

 
a) A  B ) A  B .
  
b) A \ B = A \ B .
  
c) A [ B  A [ B and the inclusion may be strict.
d) A  B ) A  B .
e) A [ B = A [ B .
f) A \ B  A \ B and the inclusion may be strict.
5. Show that the set of integers is closed in the usual topology of IR.
     
6.
1  1
Show that  n 2 IN is not closed but that  n 2 IN [ f0g is closed.

n n

7. a) Let A  IR be bounded from above. Prove that sup A 2 A.

b) Let A  IR be bounded from below. Prove that inf A 2 A.

1
 
8. a) Prove that {A = {A.
b) Deduce that {A = int{A.
9. Let A be a nonempty set of a metric space X . Dene the distance from a point x 2 X to
the set A by
dist (x; A) = yinf
2A
dist (x; y):
a) Prove that x 2 A if and only if dist (x; A) = 0.
b) Show that jdist (x; A) dist (y; A)j  dist (x; y) for all x; y 2 X .
c) Prove that A  B ) dist (x; B)  dist (x; A).
d) Show that dist (x; A) = dist(x; A).
e) Prove that the following properties are equivalent
(i) 8 x 2 X , dist (x; A) = dist(x; B).
(ii) A = B .

10. Let X be a metric space. For an nonempty subset A  X , we set

diam(A) = supfd(x; y)jx; y 2 Ag:
a) Find diam ]0,1[.
b) Show that if A  B then diam(A)  diam(B ).
c) Show that diam(A) = diam(A).
d) Show that diam(B (a; r))  2r and diam(B 0(a; r))  2r. Show that these inequalities may
be strict.
e) A subset A  X is called bounded if diam(A) < 1. Show that A is bounded if and only
if it is contained in a ball.
f) Show that a subset A  IR is bounded in the usual distance if and only if it is bounded
from above and from below.
11. Let A be a subset of metric space X and let x be a limit point of A. Show that any
neighborhood of x contains innitely many points of A. Deduce that a nite set has no limit
points.
12. Let (X; d) be a metric space and A  X .
a) Prove that A is closed if and only it contains its boundary.
b) Prove that A is open if and only it does not meet its boundary.

2
13. Let (A)2L be an arbitrary family of subsets of a metric space. Show that
[ [
A  A :
2L 2L
Give an example where equality fails.
14. Let (A)2L be an arbitrary family of subsets of a metric space. Show that
\ \ 
A  A :
2L 2L
Give an example where equality fails.

Let A = Q\]p2; p3] and B = (IRnQ) \ [0; 1[. Find A; A; B and B .
 
15.
p
16. Which one of the following sets is dense in IR? Q [ f 2g, Qnf1g, QnZ.

17. The purpose of the exercise is to show that the set D =  2mn ; m 2 Z; n 2 IN is dense in IR.
Let x < y be two real numbers. Set  = y x. Choose an integer n such that n > 1. Find
an integer m such that x < m2 n < y. Conclude.
18. A) Let X be a metric space, a 2 X and r > 0. Prove each of the following inclusions and
give an example where equality fails.
(i) B (a; r)  B 0(a; r).
(ii) B (a; r)  int B 0(a; r).
(iii) @B(a; r)  S (a; r) where S (a; r) = fx 2 X j d(x; a) = rg.
(iv) @B0(a; r)  S (a; r).
B) Equip IRN with any norm. Prove that the above inclusions are in fact equalities.

19. Let A and B be two subsets of a metric space X .

a) Show that if A is open then A \ B  A \ B . Give an example where the inclusion is
strict.
b) Suppose that A and B are open. Prove that the following conditions are equivalent.
(i) A \ B = ?. (ii) A \ B = ?. (iii) A \ B = ?.
20. Let (X; d) be a metric space.
a) Show that @ (A [ B )  @A [ @B for any subsets A and B of X .
b) Show that the inclusion above may strict.
c) Show that equality holds if A \ B = A \ B = ?. Hint. It may be useful to establish that

under this condition we have (A [ B ) = A  [ B  .

3
21. Let X be a set and let A and B be proper subsets of X . Consider the collection T =
f?; A; B; X g. Under which conditions on A and B is T a topology?

22. Let X be an innite set equipped with the nite complement topology. Show that every
nonempty open set is dense in X .
23. Let X = fa; b; c; d; eg and consider the topology
T = f?; X; fag; fa; bg; fa; cg; fa; c; dg; fa; b; c; dg; fa; b; cgg:
a) Find the closed subsets of X .
b) Find the closure of fag; fbg and fc; eg.
c) Find all the neighborhoods of c.

d) Let A = fa; b; cg. Find A, A and @A.
e) Is (X; T ) a Hausdor space?
24. For every n 2 IN, set En = fk 2 INjk  ng = fn; n + 1; n + 2; : : :g and let
T = f?g [ fEn; n 2 INg:
a) Show that T is a topology on IN.
b) Find the open sets containing 6.
c) Determine the closed sets of IN .
d) Find the closure of f7; 24; 47; 85g and f3; 6; 9; 12; : : :g.
e) Determine the dense subsets of IN.
25. Let X be a topological space and let A  X . Show that if A is closed or open then @A has
an empty interior.
26. a) Let A be a subset of a T1 space X and let x be a limit point of A. Show that every
neighborhood of x contains innitely many points of A.
b) Does the above result hold in an arbitrary topological space X ?
c) Let X be a an arbitrary topological space and let A  X . Show that a limit point of A
is also a limit point of A.
d) Show that if X is a T1 space then a limit point of A is also a limit point of A. Show that
the result is not true in an arbitrary topological space.

4
27. a) If (T) is a collection of topologies on a set X , show that \T is a topology on X . Is [T
a topology on X ?
b) Let (T) be a collection of topologies on X . Sow that there is a unique smallest topology
on X containing all T, and a unique largest topology contained in all T.
c) Let X = fa; b; cg and let
T1 = f?; X; fag; fa; bgg and T2 = f?; X; fag; fb; cgg:
Find the smallest topology containing T1 and T2 and the largest topology contained in T1
and T2.
28. Show that if B is a basis for a topology T on a set X , then T equals the intersection of all
topologies on X that contain B.
29. Let X be a set equipped with the nite complement topology and let Y  X . Show that
the subspace topology of Y coincides with the nite complement topology on Y .
30. Let X be a topological space, F be a subspace of X and A  F .
a) Let AF denote the closure of A in F . Show that AF = A \ F where A is the closure of
A in X .
F  F
b) Let A denotes the interior of A with respect to F . Show that A  A . Give an example
where equality fails.
31. Let X and Y be two topological space. Let A  X and B  Y . Show that A  B = A  B .
32. a) Show that a subspace of a Hausdor space is a Hausdor space.
b) Show that the product of two Hausdor spaces is a Hausdor space.
33. Show that X is a Hausdor space if and only if the diagonal
= f(x; x)jx 2 X g is closed
in X  X .
34. Let (X1; d1); : : : ; (Xn; dn) be n metric spaces. Let X = X1 


 Xn. For x = (x1; : : : ; xn)
and y = (y1; : : : ; yn), dene
n
X
( )=
1 x; y (
di xi ; yi )
i=1
n !1=2
X
( )=
2 x; y (
di xi ; yi )2
i=1
( ) = i=1
1 x; y max:::;n
di (xi ; yi ):

Show that 1; 2 and 1 are metrics on X that generate the product topology on X .
35. Set for x; y 2 IR, d(x; y) = jArctan x Arctan yj. Show that d is a distance on R that is
topologically equivalent to the usual distance.