PROBLEM SET 3: SOLUTIONS TO STARRED PROBLEMS

(1) Prove that a closed ball {x : d(x, a) r} is a closed set. Let B = {x : d(x, a) r}. To show that B is closed, we check that whenever (xn ) B is a convergent sequence, its limit x is in B. Certainly, for every n, d(x, a) d(x, xn ) + d(xn , a) d(x, xn ) + r. Since d(x, xn ) 0 as n , we have d(x, a) r, so that x B as required. 9.2G. Show that a continuous function from a compact metric space (X, ) into a metrix space (Y, d) is uniformly continuous. Suppose, for a contradiction, that f : X Y is continuous but not uniformly continuous. Negating the denition of uniform continuity, we nd that there exists > 0 such that for all > 0, there exists 1 x, y X satisfying (x, y) < but d(f (x), f (y)) . Using = n , let 1 xn , yn be such that (xn , yn ) < n but (*) d(f (xn ), f (yn )) . This gives two sequences (xn ), (yn ) in X. By compactness of X, let (xnk ) be a convergent subsequence of (xn ), and let a be its limit. Note that d(ynk , a) d(ynk , xnk ) + d(xnk , a) 0 + 0 = 0, so that ynk a. By continuity of f , we must have lim f (xnk ) = f (a) = lim f (ynk ), and so d(f (xnk ), f (ynk )) d(f (xnk ), f (a)) + d(f (a), f (ynk )) 0 + 0 = 0 as n , so that in particular, for some k, d(f (xnk ), f (ynk )) < . This contradicts (*). 9.2J If X is a continuous one-to-one function of a compact metric space X onto Y , show that f 1 is continuous.
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PROBLEM SET 3: SOLUTIONS TO STARRED PROBLEMS

Solution 1. Suppose for a contradiction that f 1 is not continuous. Negating the sequential characterization of continuity, we nd that there must exist some b Y and a sequence (yn ) Y such that yn b but xn := f 1 (yn ) f 1 (b) =: a. This is to say that, there exists > 0 such that there are innitely many n satisfying d(xn , a) . So, by replacing (xn ) by a subsequence, we may assume that d(xn , a) for all n. By sequential compactness, there exists a subsequence (xnk ) which converges to some point a X. By continuity of f , it follows that ynk = f (xnk ) f (a ). Since yn f (a), we must have f (a) = f (a ), and so a = a because f is one-to-one. Hence, xnk a, which contradicts d(xn , a) for all n. Solution 2. This solution is shorter and slicker. To show that f 1 is continuous, it suces to show that for every closed set F X, the inverse image, (f 1 )1 (F ) is closed in Y . We have (f 1 )1 (F ) = {y Y : f 1 (y) F } = {f (x) : x F } = f (F ), and F is compact (since it is a closed subset of a compact space). It follows that (f 1 )1 (F ) is compact, and thus closed, as required. (3) (a) Suppose that (xn ) and (yn ) are sequences in a metric space X, xn a and yn b. Show that d(xn , yn ) d(a, b). We have |d(xn , yn ) d(a, b)| |d(xn , yn ) d(yn , a)| + |d(yn , a) d(a, b)| d(xn , a) + d(yn , b) 0 + 0 = 0. (The second step is accomplished using the reverse triangle inequality, see (the proof of) 4.1D.) Thus d(xn , yn ) d(a, b). (b) Suppose X and Y are closed subsets of Rn and X is bounded. Dene d(X, Y ) = inf{d(x, y) : x X, y B}. Show that the inf is achieved, i.e. there are a X and b Y such that d(a, b) = d(X, Y ). Give an example to show that this can fail if neither of X nor Y is bounded. There exist sequences (xn ) X and (yn ) Y such that d(xn , yn ) d(X, Y )
1 (eg. take xn X, yn Y that satisfy d(xn , yn ) < d(X, Y ) + n ). The sequence (xn ) is clearly bounded, since X is, so that by BolzanoWeierstrauss, there exists a convergent subsequence (xnk ) . k=1 Moreover, the sequence (yn ) is also bounded, as the following argument shows. Since d(xn , yn ) d(X, Y ), there must exist M1 such that

PROBLEM SET 3: SOLUTIONS TO STARRED PROBLEMS

d(xn , yn ) M for all n. There also exists M2 such that x M2 for all x X. So, for each n, we have yn yn xn + xn M1 + M2 . Hence by Bolzano-Weierstrauss, there exists a convergent subsequence (ynkj ) (of (ynk ) ). j=1 k=1 Let a = lim xnk = lim xnkj and b = lim ynkj . Then by (a), we have d(a, b) = lim d(xnkj , ynkj ) = d(X, Y ). Also, since X and Y are each closed, we must have a X and b Y . (5) Suppose that (xn ) is a sequence in a metric space X such that limn xn = a exists. Show that {xn : n N} {a} is a closed subset of X. Let A = {xn : n N} {a}. Suppose that (yk ) A is a convergent sequence, with limit b X, and let us show that b A. By doing so, we will have shown that A contains all of its limit points, so that A is closed. If b = a then certainly b A. Otherwise, we must have r := d(a, b) > 0. Since xn a and yk b, let N be such that, for all k, n N , r r d(xn , a) < , d(yk , b) < . 2 2 Using the triangle inquality, we have r = d(a, b) d(a, xn ) + d(xn , yk ) + d(yk , b) r r < + d(xn , yk ) + , 2 2 whence 0 < d(xn , yk ), so that xn = yk . Thus, we must have (yk ) {x1 , x2 , . . . , xN 1 }. This being a nite k=N set, it is closed (every convergent sequence is eventually constant), so b = lim yk = xi for some i, b A. (6) Given a metric space X and subset E X dene int(E) the interior of E to be the set of all x E such that there is an > 0 such that B (x) E. Show that int(E) is an open set and that (E)c = int(E c ). To prove that int(E) is open, pick x int(E) and let us show that Br (x) int(E) for some r > 0. By denition of int(E), we know that there exists > 0 for which B (x) E.

PROBLEM SET 3: SOLUTIONS TO STARRED PROBLEMS

Claim. Using r = , we have Br (x) int(E). Proof of claim. Let y B (x). Since B (x) is open, there exists > 0 such that B (y) B (x) (in fact, = d(x, y) works). Hence, B (y) E and so y int(E). This shows that Br (x) int(E) as required, and thus int(E) is open. For the second part, note that x E if and only if for every > 0, B (x) E = . So, for x X, x (E)c E > 0 s.t. B (x) E = > 0 s.t. B (x) E c x int(E c ), and consequently, (E)c = int(E c ).