BITS Pilani

Pilani Campus

MATH F311
(Introduction to Topology)
 Module-1
Topology and Topological
Spaces
Dr Trilok Mathur,
BITS Pilani Assistant Professor,
Pilani Campus Department of Mathematics
Let X ≠ ϕ be any set, a collection τ of subsets of X is called
a topology on X, if it has the following properties:
• [T1] ϕ and X are in τ
• [T2] Arbitrary union of the elements of τ is in τ i.e. if
{G } be any arbitary collectionof subsetsof X in
then G   G is also in


• [T3] Finite intersection of the elements of τ is in τ i.e. if

{G1 , G2 ,...,Gn }be any finite collectionof subsetsof X in
n
then G   Gi is also in
i 1
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• The set X with topology τ is called a topological space
(X, τ)
• We say a subset G of X is an open subset of X if G 

Examples of Topology:

1. Discrete Topology: If τ = P(X) then the topology is

called discrete topology.
2. Indiscrete Topology: If τ = {ϕ, X} then the topology is
called indiscrete topology.
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Let X = {a, b, c}

τ1  {a, b}, {b}, {b, c},  , X  A1  {a}, {b},  , X 

 2  {a},  , X 
A2  {a, b}, {b, c},  , X 
τ 3  {a, b},{a},  , X 
τ 4  {a}, {b, c},  , X 

τ 5  {a, b},{b},{a},  , X 

τ 6  {a, b},  , X 
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• Co-finite Topology: Let X be a set, let τc be the
collection of all subsets G of X s.t. X∼G is either finite
or is all of X.

• Let X = {0, 1} and   {0},  , X  then (X, τ) is called

Sierpinski Space

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• Definition: Let τ and τ’ are two topologies on a given
set X. If
   ' , τ' is finer than  or  is coarser than  '
   ' or τ'   than  is comparable with  '
• Discrete topology is finest and Indiscrete topology is
coarsest topology on a set X

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Definition: Let X be a non empty set a collection B of
subsets of X (called basis element) such that:
• (i) x  X there is at least one basis element B B
containing x
• (ii) If x  B1  B2 then B3  B containing x s.t. B3  B1  B2

*A subset G of X is said to be τ-open in X, if x  G,

there is a basis element B  B s.t. x  B  G

Note that each basis elements is itself an element of τ

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Example 1: Let B be the collection of all circular region (interior
of a circle) in the plane.

.
B3
x
B2
B1

Example 2: Let B be the collection of all rectangular region

(interior of a rectangle) in the plane.

B3
. x
B2
B1
Example 3:If X = {a, b, c} then B = {{a},{b},{c}} is a basis for the
discrete topology on X 9
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• Theorem: Let B be the basis for a topology on X,
where topology τ is defined as: “A subset G of X is τ-
open if for each x  G there is a basis element B  B
s.t. x  B  G ”, then τ is a topology on X.
• Lemma 13.1: Let X be a set, let B be a basis for a
topology τ on X. Then τ equals the collection of all
unions of elements of B.
• Lemma 13.2: Let (X, τ) be a topological space.
Suppose that C is a collection of open sets of X, s.t. for
each open set G of X and each x in G there is an
element C  C s.t. x  C  G. Then C is a basis for the
topology τ on X. 10
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Lemma 13.3: Let B and B’ be the bases for topologies τ
and τ’ on a set X respectively, then following are
equivalent:
• (i) τ’ is finer than τ
• (ii) for each x in X and each basis element B  B
containing x, there is a basis element B 'B’ s.t.
x  B'  B

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1. Standard/Usual topology: If B is the collection of
all open intervals on the real line, then the topology
generated by B is called standard topology on ℝ.
• All open intervals are open sets.
• The other possible open sets are unions of open
intervals
• ℕ, ℤ and all finite sets are closed sets.
• ℚ and ℝ∼ℚ are neither open nor closed sets
• Semi open-semi closed sets are also neither
open nor closed sets except [a, ∞) or (-∞, a] 12
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2. Lower limit topology (ℝl):
If B is the collection of all semi closed-semi open
intervals [a, b) = {x: a ≤ x < b} then the topology
generated by B is called lower limit topology on ℝ.
• In this topology all open intervals are also open
sets as: 
 1 

(a, b) =  
 a , b
n 1  n 
• This topology is finer than standard/usual
topology on ℝ
• We can similarly define upper limit topology
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3. K-topology (ℝK):
If B is the collection of all open intervals (a, b) along
with all sets of the type (a, b)∼K, where

1 
K   : n ℕ 
n 
then the topology generated by B is called
K-topology on ℝ.
* This topology is also finer than standard/usual
topology on ℝ 14
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4. Michael Line (ℝ, τM):
If B is the collection of all sets of the type:
B  {U  F : U is open in usual topology and F  ℝ∼ℚ}
then the topology generated by B is called Michael
line.
* This topology is also finer than standard/usual
topology on ℝ.

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