BITS Pilani

Pilani Campus

MATH F311
(Introduction to Topology)
 Module-2
Product Spaces & Subspace
Dr Trilok Mathur,
BITS Pilani Assistant Professor,
Pilani Campus Department of Mathematics
Let X & Y be two topological spaces. The product
topology on XxY is the topology having as basis the
collection B of all sets of the form UxV, when U is an
open subset of X and V is an open subset of Y.
* The collection B is not a topology on XxY. The union of
two rectangles pictured in following figure, for instance is
not a product of two sets, so it can not belong to B,
however it is open in XxY.
(
V2
(
)

V1
)

( ( ) )
U1 U2
BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Theorem 15.1: If B is a basis for the topology of X and C
is the basis for topology of Y, then the collection :
D ={BxC: B ∈ B, C ∈ C}
is a basis for the topology of XxY.

Projections:
Let  1 : X  Y  X be defined as :  1 ( x, y )  x

Let  2 : X  Y  Y be defined as :  2 ( x, y )  y

The map π1 and π2 are called projection map of XxY on to

its first and second factors respectively. 4
BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
If U is an open subset of X , then  11 (U )  U  Y (Open in X  Y )

If V is an open subset of Y , then  21 (V )  X V (Open in X  Y )

Subbasis: A subbasis S for a topology on X is a

collection of subsets of X, whose union is X. The
topology generated by the subbasis S is defined to be
the collection τ of all unions of finite intersections of
elements of S.
5
BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Theorem: The collection B of all finite intersections of
elements of S is a basis for S.
Theorem 15. 2: The collection
S =  11 (U ) : U is open in X   21 (V ) : V is open in Y 
is a subbasis for the product topology on XxY.

V {  21 (V )

 11 (U )
6
{
U BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Subspace Topology: Let (X,τ) be a topological space.
Let Y⊂X, then the collection τY = {U⋂Y: U ∈ τ} is a
topology on Y, called the subspace topology. With this
topology Y is called subspace of X.

Lemma 16.1: If B is a basis for the topology on X, then

the collection BY = {B⋂Y: B ∈ B} is a basis for τY.

Lemma 16.2: Let Y be a subspace of X. If U is open in Y

and Y is open in X, then U is open in X. 7
BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Theorem 16.3: If A be a subspace of X and If B be a
subspace of Y, then the product topology on AxB is
same as the topology AxB inherits as a subspace of
XxY.
Example: Y = [0, 1]⊂ℝ
BY = {(a, b)⋂Y: a < b & a, b ∈ℝ}
 (a, b), if a, b  Y
 [0, b), if a  Y , b  Y

( a, b)  Y  
 (a,1], if a  Y , b  Y
Y or  if a  Y , b  Y
8
BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Example: Y = [0, 1)∪{2}⊂ℝ

In the subspace topology on Y, the one point set A ={2}

is open because A = (1.5, 2.5)∩Y. But in the order
topology on Y, A is not open, since any basis element for
the order topology on Y that contains 2 is of the form:

B = {x: x ∈ Y & a < x ≤ 2} for some a ∈ Y

such a set necessarily contains the point of Y less than

2.
9
BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Let X be a set with a simple order relation and assume
X has more than one element. Let 𝔹 be the collection of
all sets of the following types:
(1) All open intervals (a, b) in X.
(2) All intervals of the form [a0, b) where a0 is the least
element (if one exists) of X.
(3) All intervals of the form (a, b0] where b0 is the
greatest element (if one exists) of X.

The collection 𝔹 is a basis for a topology on X called the

order topology.
10
BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Example 1. The standard topology on ℝ is the order
topology based on the usual “less than” order on ℝ.
Example 2. We can put a simple order relation on ℝ2 as
follows: a×b < c×d if either a < c or a = c and b < d. This
is often called the lexicographic/dictionary ordering
These two types of open intervals under this simple order
relation are then as follows:

11
BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Example 3. Let X = {1, 2} ×ℕ with the dictionary order.
Then 1×1 is the least element of X, though there is no
greatest element of X.
The ordering produces the inequalities: 1×1 < 1×2 <
1×3 < · · · < 2×1 < 2×2 < · · · where the first “· · ·”
indicates that all elements of the form 1×n are present.
Notice that all but one singleton is in the basis 𝔹 for the
order topology: {1×1} = [1×1, 1×2)

{1×n} = (1×(n − 1), 1×(n + 1)) for n > 1,

{2×n} = (2×(n − 1), 2×(n + 1)) for n > 1, 12

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
But a basis element containing 2×1 must be of the form
(a, b) where a < 2×1 < b. But then a is of the form 1×n
for some n ∈ ℕ, so (a, b) contains an infinite number of
elements of X less than 2×1. Now any open set
containing 2×1 must contain a basis element about
2×1.

So the singleton {2×1} is the lone singleton in the

topological space which is not open.

13
BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus