Class Notes On Topology-I(PSMATC-104)

Semester-I, 2021
Unit-1
Dr. Anu Kumari Khanna
Department Of Mathematics,
University Of Jammu,Jammu,
J & K, India.

March 17, 2021

Exercise: If X and Y are denumerable sets, then X ∪ Y is also denumerable.

Proof: We have two cases:

Case-I: Suppose X ∩ Y = φ.
Since X and Y is denumerable sets, we have X ∼ N and Y ∼ N.
Also, N ∼ Ne and N ∼ No , where Ne and No are the set of even and odd natural numbers.
Thus X ∼ Ne and Y ∼ No .
Since X ∩ Y = φ and Ne ∩ NO = φ, we find that X ∪ Y ∼ No ∪ Ne ; i.e X ∪ Y ∼ N.
Therefore X ∪ Y is denumerable.

Case-II: Suppose X ∩ Y 6= φ. Let A = X \ Y. Thus X ∪ Y = A ∪ Y and A ∩ Y = φ.

If A is finite, then A ∪ Y is denumerable. If A is infinite, then A being an infinite subset of a
denumerable set X is denumerable and so A ∪ Y is denumerable. Thus X ∪ Y is denumerable.


Exercise: If X ∼ Y and X is non-denumerable, then prove that Y is also non-denumerable.

Exercise: Prove that every superset of a non-denumerable set is non-denumerable.

Proof: Let X be a non-denumerable set and Y is a superset of X. We have to show that Y is
also non-denumerable.
Since X is infinite and an infinite subset of a denumerable set is denumerable implies X is
denumerable, which is not true. Hence Y is non-denumerable.


Exercise: Prove that if X is a denumerable set and Y is finite subset of a set X, then X \ Y
is denumerable.
(D.O.M/ ∗ 2021)

1
 Exercise: Show that Z is denumerable.
Proof: To show that Z is denumerable, we shall show that N ∼ Z.
For this, we define a mapping, f : N → Z by
 n
2 if n is even
f (n) = −(n−1)
2 if n is odd

Clearly, f is one-one.
f is onto: Let m ∈ Z.
If m > 0, then n = 2m ∈ N and f (n) = m.
If m = 0, then n = 1 ∈ N and f (n) = 0.
If m < 0, say m = −n, then 2n + 1 ∈ N and f (2n + 1) = −n = m.
Thus for each m ∈ Z, there exist n ∈ N such that f (n) = m. Therefore, f is surjective.
This proves that f : N → Z is bijective and so N ∼ Z. Hence Z is denumerable.


Exercise: Prove that (0, 1) is a non-denumerable.

Proof: Suppose (0, 1) is denumerable. Then (0, 1) ∼ N and so there exists a bijection,
f : N → (0, 1). Thus all the elements in (0, 1) are given in the set {f (1), f (2), ......f (n), .........}.
Let us we have an infinite decimal expansion of f (n)0 s as:

f (1) = 0.x11 x12 x13 .........x1k .........

f (2) = 0.x21 x22 x23 .........x2k .........

.
.
f (n) = 0.xn1 xn2 xn3 .........xnk .........
.
.
where xij takes one of the values 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, ∀i, j and each infinite decimal expansion
contains infinite number of non-zero terms; for example: 21 = 0.5 will be read as 0.499999......
Let us construct the following element x = 0.x1 x2 x3 ......xn ........
where 
5 if x11 6= 5
x1 =
1 if x11 = 5


6 5
5 if x22 =
x2 =
1 if x22 = 5

(D.O.M/ ∗ 2021)

2
 .
.
In general, 
6 5
5 if xkk =
xk =
1 if xkk = 5

Thus x ∈ (0, 1) but x 6= f (k), for any k ∈ N.

This implies f is not bijective, which is a contradiction.
This proves that (0, 1) is non-denumerable.


(D.O.M/ ∗ 2021)