Solutions to Topology Homework #4, due Week 8. Problems: Munkres Section 17 #4, 7, 10, 14, 16, 19, 20 17.

4 Show that if U is open in X and A is closed in X , then U A is open in X , and A U is closed in X . Proof: Let U be open in X and A be closed in X . Then X A is open since complements of closed sets are open, and X U is closed since complements of open sets are closed. Furthermore, U A = U (X A) is a nite intersection of open sets and hence is open. Also, A U = A (X U ) is the intersection of closed sets and hence is closed.2 17.7 Criticize the following proof that A A : if {A } is a collection of sets in X and if x A , then every neighborhood U of x intersects A . Thus U must intersect some A , so that x must belong to the closure of some A . Therefore, x A . The problem lies in the sentence Thus U must intersect some A , so that x must belong to the closure of some A . Its true that each U intersects some A , but nothing says that every such U intersects the same A . Therefore, there may not be a single A which has x as its limit point. (A simple example is Ai = {1/i} for i N.) 17.10 Show that every order topology is Hausdor. Proof: Let X be a topological space with order topology T . Let x, y X be such that x < y . First suppose that neither of these points is the greatest or least element in X . Now in the case where y is the immediate successor of x, then we have x (a, y ) for some a < x, and clearly this interval is an open set not containing y . Furthermore, y (x, b) for some b > y , and (a, y ) (x, b) = since y is the immediate successor of x. On the other hand, if y is not the immediate successor of x then there is some z X such that x < z < y . In that case, (a, z ) contains x and (z, b) contains y and (a, z ) (z, b) is disjoint. We now turn to the case where x is the least element in X . In that case we follow the same reasoning using [x, z ) or [x, y ) in place of (a, z ) or (a, y ). The case in which y is the greatest element in X is similar. In all cases we nd that there is an open set containing x but not y and an open set containing y but not x, such that these open sets are disjoint. Hence X is Hausdor. 17.14 In the nite complement topology on R, to what point or points does the sequence xn = 1/n converge? 1

Since (xn ) is a sequence with innitely many distinct points, any open set in the nite complement topology will contain some points of (xn ). It follows that (xn ) converges to every point in R. 17.16 Consider the ve topologies on R given in Exercise 7 of Section 13. (a) Determine the closure of the set K = {1/n|n Z+ }. In T1 , the standard topology, K = K {0}. In T2 , the topology of RK , notice that K has no limit points, since R K is an open set which doesnt contain K (and hence there is no limit point of K outside of K ), and also every 1/n in K clearly has a small interval of radius (1/n) (1/(n + 1)) around it which does not intersect K in any other point. Thus, K = K . In T3 , the nite complement topology, we have just shown in the previous problem that every point in R is a limit point of K , and hence K = R. In T4 , the upper limit topology, notice that (1, 0] is an open set containing 0 but no point of K , hence 0 is not a limit point of K . No other point is a limit point of K for the same reason as in the standard topology, so K = K . In T5 , with basis {(, a)}, notice that every point x greater than or equal to 0 will have the property that any open set containing x will also contain some point of K , and hence K is the set of real numbers greater than or equal to 0. (b) Which of these topologies satises the Hausdor axiom? The T1 axiom? Clearly T3 and T5 are not Hausdor since they contain a sequence that converges to more than one limit point. Furthermore, T3 is T1 but T5 is not since nite point sets have open complements in T3 but not T5 . The standard topology, is both T1 and Hausdor since we can nd disjoint open intervals separating any two reals. Since T4 and T4 are ner than the standard topology, they have both properties too. 17.19 If A X , we dene the boundary of A by the equation BdA = A (X A). (a) Show that IntA and BdA are disjoint, and A = IntA BdA. Proof: From the denition of boundary, and the fact that A itself must be disjoint from its complement in X , we can conclude that the boundary of A is the set of points which are limit points of A and X A. But if y is in 2

IntA then there is some neighborhood of y contained entirely in A and hence y is not a limit point of X A. This shows that IntA and BdA are disjoint. Furthermore, for any x A such that x is not in the interior of A, then every neighborhood of x must intersect X A and hence x is a limit point of X A and hence an element of BdA. This shows that A IntA BdA. The reverse inclusion is clear from the fact that both IntA and BdA are subsets of A. 2 (b) Show that BdA = A is both open and closed. Proof: BdA = means that no point is a limit point of both A and X A. That is, every point p has a neighborhood Np contained entirely within A or entirely within X A. In that case, A = pA Np and X A = pA Np so A and X A are both open and hence both closed. Conversely, if A and X A are both open and both closed, then every point in A and every point in X A are in the interior of A or X A. This means that the union of the interiors is the entire space X and consequently by part (A), and the fact that the boundary of A equals the boundary of X A we can conclude that the boundary is empty.2 (c) Show that U is open BdU = U U . Proof: U is open exactly when U is its own interior, in which case by (a) we have U and BdU disjoint, and U = U BdU . Since this is a disjoint union, it follows that BdU = U U .2 (d) If U is open, is it true that U =Int(U )? Justify your answer. This is not necessarily true. Suppose U = R {0} in the standard topology on R. Then U is open, and U = R, with IntU also equal to all of R. 17.20 Find the boundary and the interior of each of the following subsets of R2 : (a) A = {x y |y = 0}. BdA = A, IntA = . (b) B = {x y |x > 0, y = 0. BdB = {x y |x = 0} {x y |x > 0, y = 0}, IntB = B . (c) C = A B . BdC = {x y |x < 0, y = 0} {x y |x = 0}, IntC = {x y | x > 0} (d) D = {x y |x Q}. BdD = R2 . IntD = . (e) E = {x y |0 < x2 y 2 1}. BdE = {x y |x2 y 2 = 0} {x y |x2 y 2 = 1}. IntE = {x y |0 < x2 y 2 < 1}. (f) F = {x y |x = 0, y 1/x}. BdF = {x y |x = 0} {x y |y = 1/x}. IntF = {x y |x = 0, y < 1/x}. 3