HOMEWORK II SOLUTIONS

Exercise 2.2

We follow the hint and define

PN := {a0 z n + a1 z n−1 + · · · + an−1 z + an |
ai ∈ Z, n + |a0 | + |a1 | + · · · + |an | = N, not all ai are zero}.
Then this set is finite since n ≤ N and |ai | ≤ N for any ai . Since any polynomial of degree
≤ N has at most N solutions, the set
ZN := {z ∈ C | f (z) = 0 for some f ∈ PN }
S
is also finite. As the set of algebraic number is equal to N ∈N ZN and N is countable, it is
also countable. (It cannot be finite since every element in N is an algebraic number.)

Exercise 2.3

As R is uncountable, it is a direct consequence of Exercise 2.2.

Exercise 2.5

Consider the set

 
1
A := c + | c ∈ {0, 5, 10}, n ∈ N \ {0} ⊂ R.
n
Then it is bounded since 0 ≤ a ≤ 11 for any a ∈ A. Now we show that there are only three
limit points of A, which are 0, 5, 10. First suppose x ∈ R is equal to 0, 5, or 10. For any
r ∈ R>0 , there exists n ∈ N \ {0} such that r < n by archimedean property, which means
Nr (x) 3 x + n1 . Thus x satisfies the definition of a limit point.
On the other hand, if x ∈ R is not equal to 0, 5, or 10, then we can choose r ∈ R such
that 0 < r < min( |x| |x−5| |x−10|
2 , 2 ,
1
2 ). Now there exists N ∈ N \ {0} such that r < N , or
1
N < r. Then for any n ∈ N such that n > N we have
1 1 1
|x −| ≥ |x| − > 2r − > r,
n n n
1 1 1
|x − (5 + )| ≥ |x − 5| − > 2r − > r,
n n n
1 1 1
|x − (10 + )| ≥ |x − 10| − > 2r − > r,
n n n
1
2 HOMEWORK II SOLUTIONS

thus n1 , 5 + n1 , 10 + n1 6∈ Nr (x). It follows that A ∩ Nr (x) is finite. Thus by Theorem 2.20,

x is not a limit point of A.

Exercise 2.10

The only nontrivial metric axiom to check is the triangle inequality. Since distances
are either 0 or 1, the only way the triangle inequality can be false is if there are 3 points
x, y, z ∈ X such that d(x, y) = d(y, z) = 0 but d(x, z) = 1. However, the equation
d(x, y) = d(y, z) = 0 says that x = y and y = z. Therefore x = z, so d(x, z) = 0 as well, so
this case cannot happen.
This metric space gives what is called the discrete topology on X: for each x ∈ X, the
singleton set {x} is also equal to B1/2 (x) and is therefore open. Since arbitrary unions of
open sets are open, we conclude that every subset of X is open.
We claim that the compact sets are precisely the finite subsets of X. Clearly, every
finite set is compact. Now let S ⊂ X be infinite. Then {{x} | x ∈ S} is an open cover of
S with no finite subcover.

Exercise 2.11

We need to check the conditions (a), (b), (c) in Definition 2.15. d1 , d3 , d4 are not a
metric since
d1 (0, 1) + d1 (1, 2) = 2 < 4 = d1 (0, 2), d3 (−1, 1) = 0, d4 (1, 1) = 1 6= 0,
which contradicts (c), (a), (a), respectively. Now we show that d2 is a metric. Note that
(a), (b) are obviously satisfied. Also we have
p p p p
( |x − y| + |y − z|)2 = |x − y| + |y − z| + 2 |x − y| |y − z| ≥ |x − z|,
from which (c) follows. Likewise we show that d5 is a metric. (a), (b) are again obvious,
and since
|x − y| |y − z| |x − z|
+ −
1 + |x − y| 1 + |y − z| 1 + |x − z|
|x − y|(1 + |y − z|)(1 + |x − z|) + |y − z|(1 + |x − y|)(1 + |x − z|) − |x − z|(1 + |x − y|)(1 + |y − z|)
=
(1 + |x − y|)(1 + |y − z|)(1 + |x − z|)
(|x − y| + |y − z| − |x − z|) + 2|x − y||y − z| + |x − y||y − z||x − z|
= ≥ 0,
(1 + |x − y|)(1 + |y − z|)(1 + |x − z|)
(c) is also satisfied.