Are you ready for the semester?!

What is Real Analysis?

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Some preliminaries

The set of real numbers is the mathematical universe in

which the study of real analysis occurs. 1

1
Bloch, E.D. (2010). The real numbers and real analysis. New York: Springer
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Why study real analysis?

Real analysis involves a rigorous treatment of the many mathematics

concepts learned in elementary and secondary school.

Training in real analysis also provides training in reading mathematical

texts and proving mathematical assertions.

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Warm-up: Foundations of Mathematics

Given:
Everyone who likes math loves reading.
I don’t like reading.
Is this a valid conclusion?
I don’t like math.

Given:
If Susie goes to 7-11 with Jaime, I will stay home.
Susie went to Jollibee with Jaime.
Is this a valid conclusion?
I did not stay home.

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Warm-up: Foundations of Mathematics

For each statement, determine if it is true or false.

∀x ∈ R ∃y ∈ R (x < y ).
∃x ∈ R ∀y ∈ R (x < y ).

In English:
For every real number x, there exists a real number y such that x < y .
There exists a real number x such that for all real numbers y , x < y .

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Warm-up: Foundations of Mathematics

Given:
If p is a positive real number, then there exists a real number m such
that m > p.
Every real number m is less than the real number t.
Is this a valid conclusion?
The number t is not positive.

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Review: Sets

A set is an undefined term which can be described as a collection of

objects (another undefined term).

Definitions:
The empty set, denoted by ∅, is the set that contains no element.
The set A is a subset of set B, denoted by A ⊆ B, if ∀x ∈ A, then
x ∈ B.
The set A is a proper subset of set B, denoted by A ⊂ B, if A ⊆ B
and A 6= B.
Two sets are equal, denoted by A = B, if A ⊆ B and B ⊆ A.

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Review: Sets

The union of two sets A and B is the set

A ∪ B = {x : x ∈ A or x ∈ B}.

The intersection of two sets A and B is the set

A ∩ B = {x : x ∈ A and x ∈ B}.

Two sets are disjoint if A ∩ B = ∅.

The set difference of set B in set A is the set

A \ B = {x ∈ A : x ∈
/ B}.

If the set X is the universe and A is a subset of X , then the

complement of A is the set

Ac = X \ A.

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Sets

Which of the following are well-defined sets?

1 The collection A of all students of the USM Graduate School.
2 The collection B of all irrational numbers.
3 The collection C of all cute animals.
4 The collection D of all collections that do not contain themselves as
an element.

Answers: A and B are well-defined. C and D are not.

The third example shows the importance of precise characterizations. In
calculus, defining limits using a “closer and closer” description is not
precise.
The fourth example shows that constructing “the set of all sets that are
not members of itself” is forbidden. It leads to a contradiction called
Russell’s paradox.

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Are you ready for the semester?!

What is Real Analysis?

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Early Calculus
We know that the derivative of y = x 3 is y 0 = 3x 2 .

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Early Calculus
We know that the derivative of y = x 3 is y 0 = 3x 2 .

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Early Calculus
Newton, in 1704, determines the derivative (or fluxion, as he calls it) of
x 3 as follows.
In the same time that x, by growing, becomes x + o, the power x 3
becomes (x + o)3 , or

x 3 + 3x 2 o + 3xo 2 + o 3 ,

and the growths, or increments

o and 3x 2 o + 3xo 2 + o 3

are to each other as

1 to 3x 2 + 3xo + o 2 .

Now let the increments vanish, and their last proportion will be 1 to 3x 2 ,
whence the rate of change of x 3 with respect to x is 3x 2 .
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Newton Questioned

Isaac Newton George Berkeley

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Paradoxes

George Berkeley objected to this argument.

In one part, o is assumed to be nonzero (i.e., x “grows” to x + o).
But in another part, it is taken to be zero (i.e., “vanishes”).
Several mathematicians tried to resolve Berkeley’s question, but without a
rigorous foundation of limits, no answer was satisfactory.
Some explanations were even absurd: “A quantity which is increased or
decreased by an infinitely small quantity is neither increased or decreased.”
(Johann Bernoulli)

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Need for Rigor

Consider the limit π 

lim sin .
x→0 x
π 
Complete the following table, where y = sin .
x
1 1 1
x 1 2 3 4 →0
y →?

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Need for Rigor

Consider the limit π 

lim sin .
x→0 x
Complete the following table.
1 1 1
x 1 2 3 4 →0
y 0 0 0 0 → 0?

Now, complete the following table.

2 2 2
x 2 5 9 13 →0
y → 0?

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Need for Rigor

Consider the limit π 

lim sin .
x→0 x
Complete the following table.
1 1 1
x 1 2 3 4 →0
y 0 0 0 0 → 0?

Now, complete the following table.

2 2 2
x 2 5 9 13 →0
y 1 1 1 1 → 1?

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More tables

2 2 2 2
x 3 7 11 15 →0
y →?

3 3 3
x 3 7 13 19 →0
y →?

6 6 6
x 6 13 25 37 →0
y →?

Take note, we are only approaching x from the right of 0. We haven’t

even approached x from the left.

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More tables

2 2 2 2
x 3 7 11 15 →0
y −1 −1 −1 −1 → −1?

3 3 3
x 3√ 7
√ 13
√ 19
√
→√0
3 3 3 3
y 2 2 2 2 → 23 ?

6 6 6
x 6 13 25 37 →0
1 1 1 1
y 2 2 2 2 → 12 ?

Take note, we are only approaching x from the right of 0. We haven’t

even approached x from the left.

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What do these tell us?

In evaluating the limit π 

lim sin ,
x→0 x
it is not enough to just say that it is the value that y approaches as x gets
closer and closer to 0.
What does “closer” mean, in precise terms? How close do we mean? And
how should we choose points that become closer and closer to 0; as seen
above, there are so many ways to make x closer to 0. Plus so many other
questions.

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The Graph

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The Graph

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The Graph

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Crises in Mathematical Education

A recurring theme in mathematics is that when our beliefs or theories are

shattered, we learn from them and develop new theories.
As such, this course will be presented with some emphasis on how
mathematical ideas developed. And you will see that many of these ideas
started with an initial paradox or dilemma.

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Paradoxes

Some paradoxes
1 Irrational numbers
2 Zeno’s paradox
3 Paradoxes related to infinity
4 Russel’s paradox
5 And many more!

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What is Real Analysis?

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What is Real Analysis?

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What is Real Analysis?

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Statements

A statement is a declarative sentence that either true or false, but not

both.
“Everything in this lecture is false, including this disclaimer. In fact, this
sentence is false.”
These sentences are self-referential (i.e., referring to self). Just like...

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Self-references

Kung, D. (2015). Mind-bending math: Riddles and paradoxes. Chantilly, VA: The Teaching Company.

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Self-references

Well not exactly this one

http://holy-kamote.blogspot.com/2008/02/warning-do-not-read-this.html

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/forbidden-signs-part-2/

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Self-references

https://www.pinoyexchange.com/forums/showthread.php?t=434122

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Self-references

Analyze p: “This sentence is false.”

Cannot be true and cannot be false. This is the Liar’s Paradox.
Analyze q: “Everything in this lecture is false, including this disclaimer.”
Can q be true? No. If q were true, then not everything in the lecture
would be false.
Can q be false? Yes. I will now say that 1 + 1 = 2. Then this lecture
already contains a true statement, so q is false.
That’s the subtlety of paradoxes. You make a subtle change from “this
sentence” to “everything” and you still have a self-reference, but the
paradox is gone.

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Paradoxes

Paradoxes may be:

true (defies intuition)
false (muddles the truth)
neither (something deeper is going on)

But in each case, paradoxes can lead us to think more deeply about certain
things. This is how paradoxes contributed to mathematical development.

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Some True Paradoxes (Our intuition is false)

Banach-Tarski Paradox: It is possible to decompose a ball into five

pieces which can be reassembled by rigid motions to form two balls of the
same size as the original.
Earth’s Gravitational Pull: If you drop an egg and a watermelon from the
top of a building, both will reach the ground in the same amount of time.
Twin Paradox: Theoretically, if one twin makes a journey into space in a
high-speed rocket, that twin returns home to find that the twin who
remained on Earth has aged more.

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A False Paradox (muddles the truth)

Three customers pay $10 each for one meal. The waiter takes the
$30-payment to the owner who informs him that there is a discount. The
owner gives back $5 to the waiter to be returned to the customers.
The waiter thought that it would be difficult to divide $5 into the three
customers anyway, so he kept $2 and returned $1 to each of the three
customers.
The customers ended up paying $27 ($9 each). Also, the waiter kept $2.
The question is, where is the missing dollar ?

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A Paradox that is Neither True Nor False
One example involves the sentence, “This sentence is provable.”

Kurt Gödel

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A Paradox that is Neither True Nor False

Assume the following:

1 If you can prove a mathematical statement, it must be true.
2 If you cannot prove a mathematical statement, it must be false.

Examples:
1 The Greeks proved that any angle inscribed in a semicircle is a right
angle. This is a true statement.
2 The Greeks could not find a way to trisect an angle using a compass
and straightedge only. This construction is an impossible construction
(proved thousands of years after the Greeks).

Is it possible to prove the statement, “This statement is not provable.”?

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