Math 131B-2

Homework 1

Due: October, 4th, 2016

This assignment is due on October 4th, 2016 in the discussion section. Provide complete well-written solutions to
the following exercises.
Exercise 1. Let H be a vector space over R and let h, i be an inner-product on H, i.e., H paired with h, i is a
real inner-product space. For x H, define
kxk = hx, xi1/2 ;
this is the norm on H inherited from its inner product (though you should not assume that k k is a norm).
1. Prove the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality: For all x, y H,
|hx, yi| kxkkyk.
2. Use the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality to prove the triangle inequality: For all x, y H,
kx + yk kxk + kyk.
Conclude that H, equipped with k k, is a normed vector space (this means: prove that k k defines a norm
on H).
3. Define d : H H [0, ) by
d(x, y) = kx yk
for x, y H. Prove that d is a metric on H (and hence (H, d) is a metric space).
4. Using the preceding results, prove that d`2 (defined in class) is a metric on Rn this is what we called the
Euclidean metric. That is, find an inner product on Rn whose norm defines the metric d`2 and then use the
preceding results to conclude that d`2 is a metric. Write down the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality in this setting.
5. If H were simply a normed vector space, i.e., where k k doesnt (necessarily) come from an inner product,
does your argument for Part 3 still ensure that d defines a metric on H? If this is the case, give an example
of such a normed vector space and write down the metric d.
Exercise 2. Given the space Rn we consider the metrics d`1 , d`2 , d` : Rn Rn [0, ) defined in class and on
page 4 of your textbook. (You should be able to verify for yourself that these are bona fide metrics.)
1. Prove that
d`2 (x, y) d`1 (x, y)

nd`2 (x, y)

(1.1)

for all x, y Rn . (Hint: For the upper inequality, apply the Rn version of the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality to
vectors (|x1 y1 |, |x2 y2 |, . . . , |xn yn |) and (1, 1, . . . , 1).)
2. Prove that

1
d`2 (x, y) d` (x, y) d`2 (x, y)
n

(1.2)

for all x, y Rn .
3. Prove the following proposition.
n
n
Proposition 1. Let (x(k) )
k=m be a sequence of points in R and let x be a point in R . Then the following are
equivalent:

(a) (x(k) )
k=m converges to x with respect to the Euclidean metric d`2 .
(b) (x(k) )
k=m converges to x with respect to the taxi-cab metric d`1 .
(c) (x(k) )
k=m converges to x with respect to the sup norm metric d` .

Math 131B-2

Homework 1

Due: October, 4th, 2016

Exercise 3. Let (X, d) be a metric space. Prove the following statements.

1. Let E be a subset of X. Then E is open if and only if E = int(E). That is, E is open if and only if, for every
x E, there exists r > 0 such that B(x, r) E.
2. Let E be a subset of X. Then E is closed if and only if E contains all its adherent points, i.e., E is closed
if and only if, for every sequence (x(k) )
k=m E, which converges to some x X with respect to d, then
necessarily
lim x(k) = x E.
k

3. For any x0 X and for any r > 0, the open ball B(x0 , r) is an open set (this justifies why we call it an open
ball). The set {x X : d(x0 , x) r} is a closed set; this is referred to as the closed ball about x0 of radius r
and denoted by B(x0 , r).
4. For any x0 X, the singleton {x0 } is a closed set.
5. Let E be a subset of X. Then E is open if and only if X \ E (the complement of E in X) is closed.
6. Given a finite collection E1 , E2 , . . . , En of open sets. The intersection E1 E2 En is an open set.
7. Given a finite collection of closed sets F1 , F2 , . . . , Fn , the union F1 F2 Fn is a closed set.
8. If {E : I} = {E }I is any collection of open sets (here, I is an index set which can be finite, countable,
uncountable), then the union
[
E
I

is an open set.
9. Formulate and prove an analogous statement for the intersection of an arbitrary collections of closed sets.
10. If E is any subset of X, then int(E) is the largest open set contained in E, i.e., int(E) is an open set and, for
any open set U E, U int(E). Similarly, E is the smallest closed set containing E, i.e., E is closed and,
for any closed set C containing E, E C.
Exercise 4.
Definition 2. Let X be a space and let d1 and d2 be metrics on X. We say that d1 and d2 are equivalent metrics if
there exist C, C 0 > 0 for which
Cd1 (x, y) d2 (x, y) C 0 d1 (x, y)
for all x, y X. In this case we write d1 d2 .
1. Prove that is an equivalence relation.
2. Let d1 and d2 be equivalent metrics on X. Use Statement 1 of the previous exercise to show that a set U X
is open in (X, d1 ) if and only if it is open in (X, d2 ). (Note that there are two types of balls, B(X,d1 ) and
B(X,d2 ) , one needs to consider; your notation should reflect this.)
3. Find a counterexample for two non-equivalent metrics, i.e., give an example of a space X with two nonequivalent metrics d1 and d2 and a set U which is open in (X, d1 ) but not open in (X, d2 ).
Exercise 5. Let (X, d) be a metric space and (x(k) ) a sequence in X which converges to x X with respect to the
metric d. Prove that (x(k) ) is a Cauchy sequence.
Exercise 6. Prove the following proposition:
2

Math 131B-2

Homework 1

Due: October, 4th, 2016

Proposition 3. Let (X, d) be a metric space and let Y a subset of X. We consider the induced metric subspace
(Y, dY ); here, dY is the metric on Y induced by d.
1. If (Y, dY ) is complete, then Y is closed in (X, d).
2. If, conversely, (X, d) is complete and Y is a closed subset of (X, d), then (Y, dY ) is complete.
Exercise 7. Let (X, d) be a metric space and Y X. A collection {V }I (where I is an index set) of open sets
in X is called an open cover of Y if
[
Y
V .
I

Any subcollection {V }J of {V }I (here we mean K I) is called a subcover of {V }I provided

[
Y
V .
K

If additionally, the collection {V }K = {V1 , V2 , . . . , Vn } is finite, it is said to be a finite subcover. In this

language, Theorem 1.5.8 of the text reads:
Theorem 4. Let (X, d) be a metric space and let Y be a compact subset of X. Then every open cover of Y contains a
finite subcover. More explicitly, for every open cover {V }I of Y , there exists a finite subset K = {1 , 2 , . . . , n }
of I for which
n
[
[
Y
V =
Vk .
F

k=1

As it turns out, the converse is true:

Proposition 5. Let (X, d) be a metric space and let Y be a subset of X. If every open cover of Y contains a finite
subcover, then Y is compact.
Prove the proposition. If youre stuck, see the hint for Exercise 1.5.11 of your text.