Assignment 1-2022

1. For any a, b ∈ R prove the following inequalities:

(1) If c ≥ 0 then |a| ≤ c iff −c ≤ a ≤ c
(2) |a + b| ≤ |a| + |b| (Triangle Inequality)
(3) |a − b| ≤ |a| + |b|
(4) |a| − |b| ≤ |a − b|
(5) −|a| ≤ a ≤ |a|

2. Suppose that α and β are any two real numbers satisfying α < β.
1
Show that there exists n ∈ N such that α < α + n
< β. Similarly, show that
for any two real numbers γ and δ
satisfying γ < δ
1
show that there exists n ∈ N such that γ < δ − n
< δ.

3. Let E be a non-empty bounded above subset of R. If u ∈ R is an upper bound

of E and u ∈ E, show that u is the supremum of E.

4. Let A be a non empty subset of R and x ∈ R. Defi

ne the distance d(x, A) between x and A by d(x, A) = inf{|x − a| : a ∈ A}. If u
is the supremum of A, show that d(u, A) = 0.

5. Find supremum and infimum of the following sets if they exists.(No need of
proofs
(1) {x ∈ R/|x − 4| < 3} (2) { n12 /n ∈ N} (3) { x12 /x ∈ R}

(4) ∪( −1
n
, 1
n
), n − primes m
(5) { m+n /m, n ∈ N}

6. If x ≥ −1, then prove that for all n ∈ N,

(1 + x)n ≥ 1 + nx (Hint: Use induction)

7. Use mathematical induction to prove that for any integer n, the number n5 − n
is divisible by 5.