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hw7 Soln

The document discusses three mathematical problems related to topology and metric spaces. It proves that the rational numbers Q are not homeomorphic to the natural numbers N due to the nature of open sets in their respective topologies. Additionally, it demonstrates the continuity of a metric on a set and establishes the relationship between a point being in the closure of a set and the existence of a converging sequence within that set.

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20 views1 page

hw7 Soln

The document discusses three mathematical problems related to topology and metric spaces. It proves that the rational numbers Q are not homeomorphic to the natural numbers N due to the nature of open sets in their respective topologies. Additionally, it demonstrates the continuity of a metric on a set and establishes the relationship between a point being in the closure of a set and the existence of a converging sequence within that set.

Uploaded by

fzsjpxuwfm8279
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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MATH 461, Fall 2024

HW7 Solutions

1. Give the rational numbers Q and the natural numbers N the subspace topology coming from
R. Prove that Q is not homeomorphic to N.
In N, each singleton {n} is open, since it is N intersected with (n − 1/2, n + 1/2). However in
Q, singletons aren’t open, since any open set containing x must contain Q ∩ (x − ϵ, x + ϵ) for
some ϵ > 0, and there are infinitely many points in this set. Therefore any bijection f : Q → N
can’t be continuous (the preimage of {n} is a singleton, so it isn’t open). In particular, there
is no homeomorphism Q ∼ = N.
2. Suppose d : X × X → R is a metric on the set X. Show that d is continuous. For this purpose
you should use the topology on X generated by open d-balls, and then give X ×X the product
topology.
Given an open set U ⊆ R, we show that the preimage of U in X ×X is open. It suffices to take
a point (x, y) such that d(x, y) ∈ U and find an open set about (x, y) contained in f −1 (U ).
There is an ϵ > 0 such that (d(x, y) − ϵ, d(x, y) + ϵ) ⊆ U . Consider the set B(x, 2ϵ ) × B(y, 2ϵ ).
It contains (x, y), and any point (x′ , y ′ ) in this set has
ϵ ϵ
d(x, x′ ) < , d(y, y ′ ) < .
2 2
It follows that
d(x′ , y ′ ) ≤ d(x′ , x) + d(x, y) + d(y, y ′ ) < d(x, y) + ϵ
and also
d(x, y) ≤ d(x, x′ ) + d(x′ , y ′ ) + d(y ′ , y) < d(x′ , y ′ ) + ϵ
All together, this shows that
|d(x′ , y ′ ) − d(x, y)| < ϵ,
so that B(x, 2ϵ ) × B(y, 2ϵ ) ⊆ f −1 (U ).
3. Let X be a metric space, A ⊆ X, and x ∈ X. Show that x ∈ Ā iff there is a sequence of
points in A converging to x.
Suppose that x ∈ Ā. Then d(x, A) = 0, so for each n ∈ N, the quantity n1 is bigger than the
infimum of the distances from x to points a ∈ A. Therefore there is some an ∈ A such that
d(x, an ) < n1 . Picking one such point for each n, we get a sequence of points (an ) in A. This
sequence converges to x, since for each open set U about x, there is a ball in U centered at
x of some radius ϵ, and then picking N1 < ϵ, we see that an ∈ B(x, ϵ) ⊆ U for every n ≥ N .
Suppose that x is the limit of a sequence of points (an ) in A. Then for every open set U
about x, U contains infinitely many points in the sequence, and so in particular it contains
at least one point of A. Therefore x ∈ Ā.

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