MH3100/MTH311 Real Analysis I

Tutorial 1

1. Prove that

7 is irrational.

2. Find the supremum and infimum of the set



3 2
(1)n
0, , , , 1 +
,
2 3
n

(n N+ ).

3. Compute, without proofs, the supremum and infimum of the following sets:
(a) {n N : n2 + 6n < 7};
(b) {n/(3n + 5) : n N};
(c) {n/m : m, n N, m, n 6= 0, n < m};
(d) {n/(m + n) : m, n N, m 6= 0}.
4. Prove that if a is in a set A and a is an upper bound of A, then a = sup A.
5. Let A be a set that is nonempty and bounded below. Let B = {x R : x is a lower
bound for A}. Show that inf A = sup B. Use this to explain why there is no need
to assert in the Axiom of Completeness the existence of the greatest lower bound.
6. Suppose that A and B are both nonempty and bounded above. Let C = {x + y :
x A & y B}. Prove that sup C = sup A + sup B.
7. Use the Archimedean property to show that inf{1/n : n Z+ } is 0.

Additional Exercises (if there is time remaining)

1. Prove that

2 5 is irrational.

2. Compute, without proofs, the supremum and infimum of the following sets:
(a) {3, 0.2, /3, e, 3}
(b) {[1 + (1)n ] n+1
: n N & n > 0};
n
(c) {x [x] : x R};
(d) {arctan x : x R}.
3. Show that

n=1 (0, 1/n)

= .
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4. Determine the truth value of the following statements.

(a) If sup A sup B, then there exist an element in B which is an upper bound of
A.
(b) If a < b for every element a A, then sup A < b.
(c) If a < b for every element a A and b B, then sup A < inf B.

Extra Exercise (Do what you want with them.)

1. Prove that is irrational.
Hint: Let = p/q. For a fixed n, consider the function
(px qx2 )n
fn =
.
n!
R
R
Note that 0 fn (x) sin xdx = [fn () + fn (0)] 0 fn00 (x) sin xdx = [fn () + fn (0)]
R (4)
[fn00 () + fn00 (0)] + 0 fn (x) sin xdx. As fn is a polynomial, the right-hand-side is an
integer, but, when n becomes bigger, the left-hand-side is a number between 0 and
1, which provides a contradiction.
2. Let Z5 = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4} and define addition and multiplication modulo 5. That is,
compute the remainder when a + b, ab are divided by 5, and use this value for the
sum and product, respectively.
(a) Show that for any z Z5 , there exists an a Z5 such that z + a = 0. We call
a the additive inverse of z.
(b) Show that for any z Z5 , there exists an b Z5 such that zb = 1. We call b
the multiplicative inverse of z.
(c) Conclude now that Z5 is closed under addition, subtraction, multiplication,
and division. If fact, Z5 is a finite field of 5 elements.
3. Let xn = (1 + 1/n)n and yn = (1 + 1/n)n+1 , n N, n 1. Obviously, xn < yn .
(a) Prove that {xn } is an increasing sequence and that {yn } is a decreasing sequence.
(b) Prove that limn xn and limn yn both exist and equal to each other. This limit
is denoted as e.
(c) Note that for each n > 0, xn < e < yn . By this inequality, prove that for any
n > 0, 1/(n + 1) < ln(1 + 1/n) < 1/n.
(d) Let
zn = 1 + 1/2 + + 1/n ln n
for n 1. Prove that limn zn exists.
We use c to denote this limit. So far, we do not know whether this constant is
rational or not.
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