Problem Set 2: Solutions

Math 201A: Fall 2016

Problem 1. (a) Prove that a closed subset of a complete metric space

is complete. (b) Prove that a closed subset of a compact metric space is
compact. (c) Prove that a compact subset of a metric space is closed and
bounded.

Solution
• (a) If F ⊂ X is closed and (xn ) is a Cauchy sequence in F , then (xn )
is Cauchy in X and xn → x for some x ∈ X since X is complete. Then
x ∈ F since F is closed, so F is complete.
• (b) Suppose that F ⊂ X where F is closed and X is compact. If (xn )
is a sequence in F , then there is a subsequence (xnk ) that converges
to x ∈ X since X is compact. Then x ∈ F since F is closed, so F is
compact. Alternatively, If {Gα ⊂ X : α ∈ I} is an open cover of F ,
then {Gα : α ∈ I} ∪ F c is an open cover of X. Since X is compact,
there is a finite subcover of X which also covers F , so F is compact.
• (c) Let K ⊂ X be compact. If (xn ) is a convergent sequence in K with
limit x ∈ X, then every subsequence of (xn ) converges to x. Since K is
compact, some subsequence of (xn ) converges to a limit in K, so x ∈ K
and K is closed.
• Suppose that K is not bounded, and let x1 ∈ K. Then for every r > 0
there exists x ∈ K such that d(x1 , x) ≥ r. Choose a sequence (xn ) in K
as follows. Pick x2 ∈ K such that d(x1 , x2 ) ≥ 1. Given {x1 , x2 , . . . , xn },
pick xn+1 ∈ K such that
d(x1 , xn+1 ) ≥ 1 + max d(x1 , xk ).
1≤k≤n

By the triangle inequality,

d(xk , xn+1 ) ≥ d(x1 , xn+1 ) − d(x1 , xk ) ≥ 1 for every 1 ≤ k ≤ n.
It follows that d(xm , xn ) ≥ 1 for every m 6= n, so (xn ) has no Cauchy
subsequences, and therefore no convergent subsequences, so K is not
compact.

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Problem 2. Let A be a subset of a metric space X with closure Ā. Define
the interior A◦ and boundary ∂A of A by
[
A◦ = {G ⊂ A : G is open} , ∂A = Ā \ A◦ .

(a) Why is A◦ open and ∂A closed?

(b) Prove that X \ Ā = (X \ A)◦ .
(c) Prove that A is closed if and only if ∂A ⊂ A, and A is open if and only
if ∂A ⊂ Ac .
(d) If A is open, does it follow that (Ā)◦ = A?

Solution

• (a) A union of open sets is open so A◦ is open, and an intersection of

closed sets is closed so Ā and ∂A = Ā ∩ (A◦ )c are closed.

• (b) Note that x ∈ A◦ if and only B (x) ⊂ A for some  > 0. If x ∈ Āc ,
then B (x) ⊂ Āc for some  > 0 since Āc is open. Since Ā ⊃ A, we
have Āc ⊂ Ac , so B (x) ⊂ Ac , meaning that x ∈ (Ac )◦ . It follows that
Āc ⊂ (Ac )◦ . For the reverse inclusion, note that if x ∈ (Ac )◦ , then there
exists  > 0 such that B (x) ⊂ Ac , so x is not the limit of any sequence
in A, meaning that x ∈ Āc . It follows that (Ac )◦ ⊂ Āc , so (Ac )◦ = Āc .

• (c) If A is closed, then Ā = A so ∂A = A∩(A◦ )c ⊂ A. For the converse,

note that since A◦ ⊂ A ⊂ Ā, we have

Ā = (Ā ∩ A◦ ) ∪ (Ā ∩ (A◦ )c ) = A◦ ∪ ∂A.

If ∂A ⊂ A, then it follows that Ā ⊂ A, so A = Ā, meaning that A is

closed.

• (d) This is not true in general. For example, define A ⊂ R2 by

A = (x, y) : x2 + y 2 < 1 \ {(x, 0) : 0 ≤ x < 1} .



Then A is open, but (Ā)◦ = {(x, y) : x2 + y 2 < 1} =

6 A.

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Problem 3. Let X be a metric space with a dense subset A ⊂ X such that
every Cauchy sequence in A converges in X. Prove that X is complete.

Solution

• Let (xn ) be a Cauchy sequence in X. Since A is dense in X, we can

choose a sequence (an ) in A such that d(xn , an ) → 0 as n → ∞. (For
example, choose an ∈ A such that d(xn , an ) < 1/n.)

• Given any  > 0, there exists M ∈ N such that d(xn , an ) < /3 and
d(xm , xn ) < /3 for all m, n > M , so

d(am , an ) ≤ d(am , xm ) + d(xm , xn ) + d(xn , an ) < ,

which shows that (an ) is a Cauchy sequence in A. It follows that (an )

converges to some x ∈ X.

• Given any  > 0, there exists N ∈ N such that d(xn , an ) < /2 and
d(an , x) < /2 for all n > N , so

d(xn , x) ≤ d(xn , an ) + d(an , x) < ,

which shows that (xn ) converges to x and proves that X is complete.

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Problem 4. Let d : X × X → R be the discrete metric on a set X,
(
1 if x 6= y,
d(x, y) =
0 if x = y.

What are the compact subsets of the metric space (X, d)?

Solution

• A subset of X is compact if and only if it is finite.

• Every finite set is compact. If F = {x1 , x2 , . . . , xn } ⊂ X and

{Gα ⊂ X : α ∈ I}

is an open cover of F , then xk ∈ Gαk for some αk ∈ I, so

{Gα1 , Gα2 , . . . , Gαn }

is a finite subcover of F . Alternatively, every sequence in F has a

constant subsequence, which converges to a point in F .

• Conversely, if F ⊂ X is infinite and Gx = {x}, then {Gx : x ∈ F }

is an open cover of F with no finite subcover. Alternatively, if F is
infinite, then there is a sequence (xn ) in F with xm 6= xn for all m 6= n,
so d(xm , xn ) = 1 for m 6= n, and (xn ) has no Cauchy or convergent
subsequences.

Remark. A rough heuristic is that compact sets have many properties in

common with finite sets. For example, finite sets have the finite intersection
property.

4
Problem 5. Let c0 be the Banach space of real sequences (xn ) such that
xn → 0 as n → ∞ with the sup-norm k(xn )k = supn∈N |xn |. Is the closed
unit ball
B = {(xn ) ∈ c0 : k(xn )k ≤ 1}
compact?

Solution

• The closed unit ball in c0 is not compact.

• For example, let

(
1 if n = k
ek = (δnk )∞
n=1 δnk =
0 if n 6= k

denote the sequence whose kth term is one and whose other terms are
zero. Then ek ∈ c0 since limn→∞ δnk = 0, and ek belongs to the closed
unit ball in c0 since kek k = 1. However, kej − ek k = 1 for every j 6= k,
so (ek )∞
k=1 has no Cauchy or convergent subsequences in c0 .

Remark. A similar argument using the Riesz lemma shows that the closed
unit ball in any infinite-dimensional normed space is not compact in the norm
topology.

5
Problem 6. A metric (or topological) space X is disconnected if there are
non-empty open sets U, V ⊂ X such that X = U ∪V and U ∩V = ∅. A space
is connected if it is not disconnected. A space X is totally disconnected if
its only non-empty connected subsets are the singleton sets {x} with x ∈ X.
(a) Show that the interval [0, 1] is connected (in its standard metric topology).
(b) Show that the set Q of rational numbers is totally disconnected.

Solution

• (a) Suppose for contradiction that [0, 1] = U ∪ V where U , V are

nonempty, disjoint open sets in [0, 1]. We assume that 0 ∈ U without
loss of generality.

• Let a = sup {x ∈ [0, 1] : [0, x) ⊂ U }. Since 0 ∈ U and U is open, we

have [0, ) ⊂ U for some  > 0, so 0 < a ≤ 1. If 0 < b < a, then [0, b) ⊂
U since, by the definition of the supremum, there
S exists b < c < a such
that [0, c) ⊂ U . (It also follows that [0, a) = 0<b<a [0, b) ⊂ U , so the
supremum is attained and, in fact, {x ∈ [0, 1] : [0, x) ⊂ U } = [0, a].)

• If a ∈ U , then (a − , a + ) ⊂ U for some  > 0, but then [0, a + ) ⊂ U ,

contradicting the definition of a. On the other hand, if a ∈ V , then
(a − , a] ⊂ V for some 0 <  < a, but then [0, b) 6⊂ U for a −  < b ≤ a,
also contradicting the definition of a.

• (b) Let A ⊂ Q be any subset of the rational numbers with at least two
elements. Choose x, y ∈ A with x 6= y. The irrational numbers are
dense in R, so there exists z ∈ R \ Q such that x < z < y. Let

U = (−∞, z) ∩ A, V = (z, ∞) ∩ A.

Then U , V are open sets in the relative topology on A. Moreover,

x ∈ U , y ∈ V so U , V are nonempty, and U ∩ V = ∅, U ∪ V = A. It
follows that Q is totally disconnected.

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Problem 7. Let
T = {G ⊂ R : Gc is countable or Gc = R} .
(a) Show that T is a topology on R.
(b) Let I = (0, 1) with closure I¯ = {F ⊃ I : F is closed} in this topology.
T
Show that I¯ = R.
(c) Is there a sequence (xn ) such that xn ∈ I and xn → 2 in this topology?
(d) What part of your proof in Problem 5 of Set 1 fails in this example?

Solution
• (a) The collection of closed sets C = {F ⊂ R : F c ∈ T } in this topology
is given by C = {F ⊂ R : F is countable or F = R}.
• The collection C satisfies the axioms for closed sets in a topological
space: (1) ∅, R ∈ C. (2) The intersection of closed sets is closed, since
either every set is R and the intersection is R, or at least one set
is countable and the intersection in countable, since any subset of a
countable set is countable. (3) A finite union of closed sets is closed,
since a finite (or countable) union of countable sets is countable. It
follows that T is a topology on R (called the co-countable topology).
• (b) If F ⊃ I is closed, then F is uncountable, since (0, 1) is uncountable,
so F = R and I¯ = R.
• (c) Let (xn )∞
n=1 be a sequence in (0, 1). Then U = R \ {xn : n ∈ N} is
an open neighborhood of 2, but xn ∈ / U for any n ∈ N, so (xn ) does
not converge to 2. A similar argument applies to any x ∈/ (0, 1), so the
˜
sequential closure of I is I = (0, 1).
• (d) If X is a topological space, then a neighborhood base of x ∈ X is
a collection {Uα : α ∈ A} of neighborhoods of x such that for every
neighborhood U of x there exists α ∈ A with Uα ⊂ U . Then xn → x if
and only if for every α ∈ A there exists N ∈ N such that xn ∈ Uα for
all n > N . The proof that the sequential closure is equal to the closure
fails for the co-countable topology on R because x ∈ R does not have
a countable neighborhood base. On the other hand, if X is a metric
space, then {B1/n (x) : n ∈ N} is a countable neighborhood base of any
x ∈ X.

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Problem 8. Let S be the set of sequences whose terms are 0 or 1:

S = {(sk )∞
k=1 : sk = 0 or sk = 1} .

(a) Use a diagonal argument to show that S is uncountable.

(b) Show that S has the same cardinality as the power set P(N) of the natural
numbers.

Solution

• (a) Let f : N → S. Suppose that f (n) = sn where sn = (skn )∞

k=1 , and
define t = (tk )∞
k=1 ∈ S by
(
1 if skk = 0,
tk =
0 if skk = 1.

Then t 6= sk for every k ∈ N, since the two sequences have different

kth terms. It follows that there is no map from N onto S, so S is
uncountably infinite.

• For A ⊂ N define the characteristic function χA : N → {0, 1} of A by

(
1 if k ∈ A,
χA (k) =
0 if k ∈/ A.

Then the map f : P(N) → S defined by f (A) = (χA (k))∞ k=1 is one-to-
one and onto, so P(N) and S have the same cardinality.