Chapter 4 Structure of Point Sets

4.1 Open and Closed Sets

For each p R and > 0. Denote by N (p) = {x R : |x p| < } R the -neighborhood of p in R. Denition 11. Let A R. A point p A is called an interior point of A in R if there exists an > 0 such that N (p) A. Denote by Int(A) the set of interior points of A. Example 6. 1. Let A = (0, 1] R. Then Int((0, 1]) = (0, 1). Becauce for each p (0, 1), if min{p, (1 p)} then N (p) (0, 1). On the other hand, for all > 0, N (1) = (1 , 1 + ) (0, 1]. Hence, 1 / Int((0, 1]). 2. Let A = (0, 1) \ Q. Then Int(A) = . Because for each p A and > 0, there exists q Q such that |p q | < . I.e. q N (p), but q / A. Therefore N (p) A. Denition 12. 1. A subset A R is open in R if every point in A is an interior point of A. I.e. A = int(A). 2. A subset B R is closed in R if (R \ B c ) is open in R. Example 7. 1. R is open in itself. Pick any p R and > 0, N (p) R. Since R is open, the empty set is closed in R. However, is also open since Int() = , which then shows that R is closed. Thus and R are subsets of R that are both open and closed in R. 2. N (p) is open. 3. [0, 1] is closed in R. 33

34 4. If S is any nte set in R then S is closed. 5. S = Q is neither closed nor open in R. Proposition 16. Let A R. int(A) is the largest open set contained in A. Proof. To show int(A) is open: Pick any p int(A). Let > 0 such that N (p) A. Now for any q N (p), there exists > 0 such that N (q ) N (p) A. This is possible since N (p) is open. Therefore, N (p) int(A), which shows int(A) is open. To show int(A) is the largest: Now if O A, then int(O) int(A). If further that O is open, then O = int(O) int(A). Theorem 5. 1. Let {O }A be any collection (countable or uncountable) of open subset sets of R. Then A O is open in R.
n 2. Let {Oi }n i=1 be any nite collection of open sets. Then i=1 Oi is open in R.

Proof. 1. For x A O , there exists A such that x O . O being open implies there exists > 0 such that N (x) O O .
A

Hence A O is open. 2. x n i=1 Oi implies x Oi for all i = 1, ..., n. For each i, let i > 0 such that Ni (x) Oi . This is possible since Oi is open. Now let = min{1 , ..., n }. Then N (x) Ni (x) Oi , i.
n Hence N (x) n i=1 Oi , which shows that i=1 Oi is open.

Remark 11. Note that the intersection of an innite collection of open sets may not be open. For example, consider Oi = (1 1/i, 1 + 1/i) R, which is open for all i but

Oi = [1, 1],
i=1

which is closed in R.

35 Theorem 6. 1. Let {F }A be any collection (countable or uncountable) of closed subset sets of R. Then A F is closed in R.
n 2. Let {Fi }n i=1 be any nite collection of closed sets. Then i=1 Fi is closed in R.

Proof. Note that F

A

=
A

c F ,

and
A

=
A

c F .

Hence these results follow the results from the previous theorem. Denition 13. Let A R. A point p R is a limit point of A if for every > 0 there exist q A, q = p, such that q N (p). In other words, (N (p) \ {p}) A = . A point p A is called an isolated point of A if it is not a limit point of A. Example 8. Let A = (0, 1) {2}. Then the limit points of A is the set [0, 1]. Note that {2} is an isolated point of A since for = 1/2, (N (2) \ {2}) A = . Limit points can be characterized in terms of sequences. Theorem 7. Let A R. x R is a limit point of A if and only if there exists a sequence {xn } A, xn = x for all n, such that xn x. Proof. (Excercise). Theorem 8. A R is closed if and only if A contains all its limit points. Proof. Suppose A is closed. Pick any x Ac , which is open. There exists > 0 such that N (x) Ac . This implies N (x) A = (N (x) \ {x}) A = , which shows that x is not a limit point of A. Thus A must contain all its limit points. Suppose A contains all its limit points. Then by the previous arguments, any x Ac is not a limit point. Thus, there exists > 0 such that (N (x) \ {x}) A = . But x Ac . So N (x) A = , which shows N (x) Ac . Therefore, Ac is open. Denition 14. Suppose A R. Denote by A the set of limit points of A. Then the closure of A, denoted by cl(A), is dened as cl(A) = A A . Theorem 9. Let A R. cl(A) is the smallest closed set containing A. Proof. (Homework).

36

4.2

Relatively Open and Closed Sets

Denition 15. Let X be a subset of R. 1. A subset O X is said to be open in X (or relatively open in X ) if for each x O, there exists = (x) > 0 such that N (x) X O. 2. A subset F X is said to be closed in X (or relatively closed in X ) if X \ F is open in X . Example 9. 1. (1/2, 1] is open in (0, 1]. 2. (0, 1) Q is open in Q. 3. [0, 1] \ Q is open in R \ Q. Theorem 10. Let X R. 1. O X is open in X if and only if O = X A, for some A that is open in R. 2. F X is closed in X if and only if F = X B , for some B that is closed in R. Proof. (Excercise). Denition 16. 1. A subset set nonempty C R is separated if C can be written as a disjoint union of two nonempty relatively open sets in C . In other words, there exist = O C and = U C such that O and U are relatively open in C and O U = and C = O U. 2. A nonempty C R is connected if it is not separated. Example 10. 1. Let C = [0, 1) {2}. Then C is saparated for [0, 1) and {2} are disjoint and open in C . 2. Let C = (0, 1) (1, 2) (2, 3). Then C is saparated by (0, 1) and (1, 2) (2, 3), which are disjont and both open in C . 3. (0, 1) is connected. Theorem 11. Every interval I in R is connected.

37 Proof. Suppose I is separated. Let O and U be disjoint nonempty subsets of I that are relatively open in I and I = O U. Let x O and y U . WLOG, WMA x < y . Let B = {z O : z < y }. Clearly x B and B is bounded. We have b = sup B I since I is an interval (i.e. z I for all x < z < y and x b y ). I being a disjoint union of O and U implies either b O or b U . If b = sup B O, then b < y . This implies for all 0 < < y b, b + /2 / O and hence (N (b) I ) O, which contradicts the fact that O is relatively open in I . One obtains the same contradiction if b = sup B U . Hence I is connected. Remark 12. It is an excercise to show that every nonempty connected sets in R is an interval.

4.3

Compact Sets

Denition 17. Let K R. A collection of open sets in R, {O }A , is an open cover for K if K O .

A

Example 11. Suppose K R. The for any > 0, the collection {N (x) : x K } is an open cover for K . Denition 18. A subset K R is compact if every open cover for K has a nite open subcover. In other words, if {O }A is an open cover for K , then there exist 1 , ..., n in A such that n K
i=1

Oi .

To show a subset K is not compact, we only need to nd an open cover with no nite open subcover. Example 12. 1. Let K = (0, 1), which is open and bounded. Clearly, {On = (0, 1 1/n) : n = 2, 3...} is an open cover for (0, 1). Moreover, if n m then On Om . There exists no nite open subcover and hence (0, 1) is not compact. Suppose there exists a nite open subcover, say
m

K
k=1

Onk .

38 Let N = max{n1 , ..., nm }, then Onk ON for all k = 1, .., m. This shows that
m

K
k=1

Onk = ON = (0, 1 1/N ),

which is absurd. 2. Suppose now K = [0, ) which is closed and unbounded. Clearly, {On = (1/n, n) : n = 2, 3, ...} is an open cover for K and there is no nite open subcover. 3. Any nite set is compact. Theorem 12. If K R is compact, then K is closed and bounded in R. Proof. Fix > 0. Clearly, {N (x) : x K } is an open cover for K . Since K is compact, there exists x1 , ..., xn K such that
n

K
i=1

N (xi ).

Each N (xi ) is bounded and any nite union of bounded sets is bounded, and hence K is bounded. To show K is closed. I.e. K c = R \ K is open: Fix x K c . We need to show there exists > 0 s.t. N (x) K c . Now for each y K , let y = |x y |/2. Observation: (i) Ny (x) Ny (y ) = . (ii) K yK Ny (y ). Since K is compact, there exist y1 , ..., yn K such that
n

K
i=1

Nyi (yi ) = U.

Let O = n i=1 Nyi (x). Then by observation (i) U O = , which implies O K c sinse K U. Moreover, O is open and contains x. Hence there exists > 0 such that N (x) O K c .
1 : n N} is not Remark 13. As a consequence of the previous theorem, the set A = { n compact for it is not closed. A does not contain its limit point 0.

Theorem 13. Any closed subset of a compact set is compact.

39 Proof. Suppose K R is compact and A K is closed. Let {O }A be any open cover for A. Then {Ac } {O }A is clearly an open cover for K . K being compact implies there exists 1 , ..., n A such that K Ac O1 ... On . Thus, A = A K = A (A O1 ... On ) =
i=1 c n n

(A Oi )
i=1

Oi ,

which shows that A is compact. Theorem 14. (Heine-Borel). If K is closed and bounded in R then K is compact. Proof. By Theorem 13, it suces to show that [M, M ] is compact. By contradiction, suppose K is not compact. Then there exists an open cover {O }A that has no nite subcover. Let a0 = M and b0 = M . Consider the following recursion. Suppose [an , bn ] [a0 , b0 ] for some n 0 such that [an , bn ] cannot be covered by any nite subcover. I.e. If {1 , ..., n } is any nite subset of A,
n

[an , bn ]
i=1

Oi .

For short notation, we say [an , bn ] has property (P). Clearly, [a0 , b0 ] has this property. Let rn = (an + bn )/2. Next we divide [an , bn ] into [an , rn ] [rn , bn ]. Either [an , rn ] or [rn , bn ] must have property (P), and so we let that interval be [an+1 , bn+1 ]. And continue. In the end, one obtains a sequence of intervals {[an , bn ]} satisfying property (P). Note that [an+1 , bn+1 ] [an , bn ] [a0 , b0 ]. bn+1 an+1 = (bn an )/2 = ... = (b0 a0 )/2n . The sequences {an } [a0 , b0 ] and {bn } [a0 , b0 ] are monotone and Cauchy, and by the previous equation lim an = x = lim bn ,
n n

for some x R. Since [a0 , b0 ] is closed, we have x [a0 , b0 ]. Since {O }A is an open cover for [a0 , b0 ], there exists A such that x O . Since O is open, there exists > 0 such that N (x) O . Now, pick n large enough such that (b0 a0 )2n < /2. We have [an , bn ] O . This contradicts the fact that [an , bn ] cannot be covered by any nite collection of O s.

40 In summary, compact subsets of R can be characterized as follows. Theorem 15. Let K R. The followings are equivalent. 1. K is compact. 2. K is closed and bounded. 3. Every innite subset of K has a limit point in K . Proof. (Excercise).