11/29/2019 Exercises 4

Metric and Topological Spaces

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Exercises 4
1. Prove that in a discrete metric space, every subset is both open and closed.
If f is a map from a discrete metric space to any metric space, prove that f is continuous.
Which maps from R (with its usual metric) to a discrete metric space are continuous ?

Solution to question 1

2. If f from R to R is a continuous map, is the image of an open set always open ?

Is the inverse image of a closed set always closed ?

Solution to question 2

3. Show that in any metric space an -neighbourhood is an open set.

Show that any open set can be written as a union of suitable -neighbourhoods.
Give an example of an open subset of R (with its usual metric) which cannot be written as a union of
finitely many -neighbourhoods.
Can any open set can be written as a union of countably many suitable -neighbourhoods?

Solution to question 3

4. If f is a continuous function from R2 to R (usual metrics!) prove that the set

{ (x, y) R2 | f(x, y) > 0 } is an open subset of R2.
Deduce that the open unit disc and open unit square are open sets.
Is the set { (x, y) R2 | f(x, y) 0 } necessarily a closed set ?

Solution to question 4

5. If (ai) is a sequence in a metric space convergent to a point , prove that is the only limit point of
the set {ai}. Give an example of a set with exactly two limit points. Give an example of a set with
countably many limit points.

Solution to question 5

6. Let X be the set {a, b, c, d, e}. Determine which of the following sets are topologies on X.
i. = {X, , {a}, {a, b}, {a, c}}
ii. = {X, , {a}, {a, b}, {a, c, d}, {a, b, c, d}}
iii. = {X, , {a}, {a, b, c}, {a, b, d}, {a, b, c, d}}
iv. = {X, , {a}, {b}, {a, b}, {a, b, c}}

Solution to question 6

7. Let be the set consisting of R, and all intervals of the form (q, ) with q Q. Show that is
closed under all finite unions and intersections, but is not a topology on R.

Solution to question 7

8. Let be the set consisting of N, and all subsets of N of the form {n, n+1, n+2, ...} for n N. Prove
that is a topology on N. What are the closed subsets of N ?

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11/29/2019 Exercises 4

Solution to question 8

9. Let be the set of all subsets of R whose complements are countable, together with the empty set.
Prove that is a topology on R. (This is called the co-countable topology.)

Solution to question 9

SOLUTIONS TO WHOLE SET

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JOC February 2004

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