Math 432, Introduction to Topology 11/12/19

REVIEW FOR MIDTERM 2

B1) Let R∞ be the subset of Rω consisting of all sequences {xn } such that xn = 0
for all but finitely many n ≥ 1. Find the closure of R∞ in the product topology and
in the box topology of Rω .

B2) True or false: If A is a connected subspace of X, then A◦ and ∂A are connected.

B3) Suppose that X and Y are topological spaces.

(a) Prove that the projection map X × Y → Y is open.
(b) If X is compact, prove that the projection map X × Y → Y is closed. [Hint:
Use the tube lemma.]

B4) Show that for any metrizable space X, X is second countable if and only if X
is separable.

B5) Let p : X → Y be a closed surjective map. Prove that if X is normal, then so

is Y . [Hint: Show that if U is an open set containing p−1 (y) for some y ∈ Y , then
there is a neighborhood W of y such that p−1 (W ) ⊂ U .]

B6) Let X be a compact Hausdorff space. Show that X is metrizable if and only if
X is second countable.

7) Give an example of each of the following:

(a) Two connected subsets A and B of a space X such that A ∩ B is nonempty and
not connected.
(b) An uncountable closed subset of R with empty interior.
(c) Two non-homeomorphic topological spaces X and Y , each of which is homeo-
morphic to a subspace of the other.
(d) Two metric spaces X and Y such that X is complete and Y is not complete,
but X and Y are homeomorphic.
(e) A sequence of continuous functions fn : [0, 1] → R and a function f : [0, 1] → R
such that (i) fn (x) → f (x) for each x ∈ [0, 1], but (ii) fn does not converge to f
uniformly on [0, 1].

8) Which topological spaces have the property that each subset is the intersection
of a family of open sets?

1
9) Let X be a regular topological space, and F ⊂ X be closed.
(a) Prove that \
F = {U | U is open and U ⊃ F }.
(b) Suppose that X is second countable. Prove that there is a sequence of open sets
\
∞
U1 , U2 , . . . such that F = Un .
n=1

10) (a) Suppose that K is a non-empty compact subset of the set R of real numbers.
Prove that sup K and inf K belong to K.
(b) Let f : X → R be a continuous function defined on a compact space X. If
f (x) > 0 for all x ∈ X, prove that f is bounded away from zero, in the sense that
there is an ǫ > 0 such that f (x) > ǫ for all x ∈ X.

11) Prove that a metric space X is complete if and only if for every nested se-
quence F1 ⊃\ F2 ⊃ · · · of non-empty closed sets in X such that diam(Fn ) → 0, the
intersection Fn is non-empty.
n

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12) Prove that any open set in R is a countable union (an , bn ) of disjoint open
n
intervals (an , bn ).

13) Suppose that xn → x and yn → y in a metric space X. Prove that

d(xn , yn ) → d(x, y).

14) Given two sets A and B in a metric space (X, d), define their distance d(A, B)
by
d(A, B) := inf(d(a, b) | a ∈ A, b ∈ B).
Prove that if A and B are compact sets, then there exist points a ∈ A and b ∈ B
such that d(A, B) = d(a, b). Is this true if A and B are only closed? What if A is
compact, and B is closed?