Homework #1

Due Friday August 30

Hand your solutions in at the beginning of class on 8/30. Your solutions should be neatly written
and complete with all details.

(1) Suppose f : X → Y is any function.

(a) (4 points) For B ⊂ Y , give the definition of f −1 (B). Prove:
!
−1
\ \
f Bi = f −1 (Bi ),
i∈I i∈I

for any family of subsets {Bi : i ∈ I} of Y .

(b) (3 points) Give the definition of what it means for f to be one-to-one. Show that if f is a
one-to-one function, then
!
\ \
f Ai = f (Ai ),
i∈I i∈I

holds for any family of subsets {Ai : i ∈ I} of X. (Compare with Problem 1 on Homework
#0.)

(2) (3 points) In this problem you will show that a couple of the properties of a field hold for R = {cuts}.
We carefully defined the sum of two cuts, the negative of a cut and the zero cut 0∗ in class (see also
§2 of the text). Use these definitions to prove:
0∗ + A|B = A|B and A|B + −(A|B) = 0∗ .

(3) (5 points) Prove the following.

m
(a) Every interval (x, y) in R contains infinitely many rational number of the form n , m, n ∈ Z.
2
(Assume x < y.) Hint: start by showing there is one such rational number.
m
(b) Every interval (x, y) in R contains infinitely many rational number of the form n , m, n ∈ Z.
10
(Assume x < y.) For this one, you need not repeat much of your solution to part (a), but
point out the difference.
(c) Show that every real number has a decimal expansion in the follwing sense that if x ∈ R is
any real number then there is a sequance of the form
n
X aj
xn = j
, with all aj ∈ Z and 0 ≤ aj ≤ 9, for j ≥ 1,
j=0
10

converging to x1.

1
Note that in decimal form xn = a0 .a1 a2 · · · an .