Lecture 2 : Topology of metric space

Definition 1. If X is a metric space with metric d, then for a given x0 ∈ X and

 > 0, the set consisting of values of x in X such that d(x, x0 ) <  is called the
−neighborhood of the point x0 and denoted by N (x0 , ).

Definition 2. Let (X, d) be a metric space. A set O is said to be an open set

in X if for every x ∈ O, there exists an  > 0 such that N (x, ) ⊂ O.

Definition 3. Let (X, d) be a metric space. A set C is called a closed set in

X if X \ C is an open set in X.

Definition 4. Let S ⊂ X be a subset of a metric space (X, d). A point x ∈ X is

called a point of closure of the set S if for every  > 0 there is a point y ∈ S
and y 6= x such that d(x, y) < . The set of points of closure of S is denoted by
S.

Definition 5. Let x ∈ Rn . The − neighborhood of x in the Euclidean metric

is called the open ball of radius  centered at x and denoted B(x; ) . The
-neighborhood of x in the sup norm metric is called the open cube of radius
 centered at x, and denoted C(x; ) .

Definition 6. Let S ⊂ X be a subset of a metric space (X, d). A point x ∈ X

is called an interior point of the set S if there exists an  > 0 such that
N (x, ) ⊂ S. The set of all interior points of S is denoted by int (S).

Definition 7. Let S ⊂ X be a subset of a metric space (X, d). A point x ∈ X

is called an exterior point of the set S if there exists an  > 0 such that
T
N (x, ) S is empty. The set of all exterior points of S is denoted by ext (S).

1
Definition 8. Let S ⊂ X be a subset of a metric space (X, d). A point x ∈ X
is called a boundary point of the set S if it is neither interior nor exterior
point. The set of all boundary points of S is denoted by ∂S.

Definition 9. Let (X, d) be a metric space. A set C is called a closed set in

X if ∂C ⊆ C.

Definition 10. Let (X, d) be a metric space. A set O is said to be an open set
T
in X if it does not contain any boundary points i.e. ∂O O = ∅.

Theorem 1. Let (X, d) be a metric space. Then,

(i) An arbitrary union of open sets of X is open in X.
(ii) A finite intersections of open sets of X is open in X.
(iii)A finite union of closed sets of X is closed in X.
(iv) An arbitrary intersections of closed sets of X is closed in X.
(v) If E is any subset of X, then int (E) is the largest open set contained in E
i.e. if there is any open set V contained in E, then V is subset of int (E).
(vi) If E is any subset of X, then Ē is the smallest closed set which contains E
i.e. if there is a closed set K containing E, then K ⊇ Ē ⊇ E.
(vii) A set S is closed if and only if for every convergent sequence {xn } in S, the
limit also lies in the set S.

Definition 11. If X is a metric space with metric d, and if Y is a subset of X,

then the restriction of d to the set Y × Y is a metric on Y ; thus Y is a metric
space in its own right. It is called a subspace of X.

2
Definition 12. Let (X, d) be a metric space and Y be a subset of X. Let E be
a subset of Y . The set E is relatively open with respect to Y if it is open in the
metric subspace (Y, d|Y ×Y ). Similarly, the set E is relatively closed with respect
to Y if it is closed in the metric subspace (Y, d|Y ×Y ).

Proposition 1. Let (X, d) be a metric space and Y be a subset of X. Let E be

a subset of Y .
T
(a) E is relatively open with respect to Y if and only if E = V Y for some set
V ⊆ X which is open in X.
T
(b) E is relatively closed with respect to Y if and only if E = V Y for some
set V ⊆ X which is closed in X.