MAT480 Topology

Homework 8
Due Apr. 10th in class

1. (a) What are the components and path components of R (in product topology)?
(b) Consider R in the uniform topology. Show that ~x and ~y lie in the same component of R if and
only if the sequence
~x ~y = (x1 y1 , x2 y2 , , )
is bounded.
(c) Give R the box topology. Show that ~x and ~y lie in the same component of R if and only if the
sequence ~x ~y is eventually zero.
Proof. (a) As shown in class that R (in the product topology) is connected. So there is only one
component. Given any two points, ~a, ~y R , write ~x = (xn ), ~y = (yn ). Then define fn : [0, 1] R, t 7
xn t + yn (1 t). Obviously fn is continuous. So the function f : [0, 1] R is continuous. Hence R
is path-connected.
(b) and (c) Dropped.
2. Let X denote the rational points of the interval [0, 1] 0 of R2 . Let T denote the union of all line
segments joining the point p = 0 1 to points of X.
(a) Show that T is path connected , but is locally connected only at the point p.
Proof. Its easy to see that T is path connected since for any two given points x1 , x2 of T , there exist
line segments L1 and L2 connecting x1 and p as well as x2 and p respectively. Its locally connected
only at p because for any point x 6= p, there exists an open neighborhood U of x on R2 , such that
U T is a union of disconnected line segments. If x = p, from the simple geometry, its easy to see
that that for a small neighborhood V of p, V T is path connected, hence is connected.
3. Let p : X Y be a quotient map. Show that if X is locally connected, then Y is locally connected.
Proof. Let p : X Y be the quotient map and let C be a component of an open set U of Y . We
want to show that C is open in Y . It suffices to show that p1 (C) is open in X. We claim that p1 (C)
is a union of components of p1 (U ). Equivalently it suffices to show that each component of p1 (U )
either lies in p1 (C) or doesnt intersect p1 (C). If not, i.e., there exists a component D of p1 (D)
such that D p1 (C1 ) 6= and D p1 (C2 ) 6= , where C1 and C2 are two components of U . Then
p(D) C1 6= ,

and , p(D) C2 6= .

This is impossible since D is connected so p(D) is connected thus p(D) is connected in only one
component of U . Hence we showed that p1 (C) is a union of components of p1 (U ). Since X is locally
connected then each component of p1 (U ) is open in X, Hence p1 (C) is open, i.e., C is open as p is a
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quotient map.
4. (a) Let T and T 0 be two topologies on the set X; suppose that T 0 T. What does compactness of X
under one of these topologies imply about the compactness under the other?
(b) Show that if X is compact Hausdorff under both T 0 and T, then either T and T 0 are equal or they
are not comparable.
Proof. (a) If T 0 is compact then T is compact too. But the converse is not true in general. Here is
an example: Let X = [0, 1] and T be the standard topology and T 0 the discrete topology, then T 0 T
and T is compact. But T 0 is not compact since each single point set is open, then the open covering
{x}, x X doesnt have finite subcovering.
(b) If not suppose we have
T T 0 and T 6= T 0 .
Then the inclusion i : (X, T 0 ) (X, T) is continuous. Obviously i is a bijection so from the condition
that X is Hausdorff compact under both T and T 0 , it follows that i is homeomorphic. A contradiction.
5. (a) Show that in the finite complement topology on R, every subspace is compact.
(b) If R has the topology consisting of all sets A such that R A is either countable or all of R, is [0, 1]
a compact subspace?
Proof. For any A R, let {U } be any open covering of A. Take U open, then R U is finite, so
is A U . Write A U = {a1 , , an }. Then there exist U1 , , Un such that ai Ui i. Thus
S
A = U (ni=1 Ui ). Hence A is compact.
(b) [0, 1] is NOT compact. Since rational numbers are countable, we may write the rational number
in [0, 1] as a1 , , an , . Define Un = ([0, 1] Q) {an } then Un is open and [0, 1] = nn=1 Un .
But there is no finite subcovering since an Un , an 6 Um if m 6= n. So if one Un is dropped, then
an 6 U1 U2 Un1 Un+1 .
6. Show that a finite union of compact subspaces of X is compact.
Proof. Let A1 , , An be compact and A = ni=1 Ai . Let {U } be an open covering of A then U is
also an open covering of Ai i. From the compactness of Ai , one obtains that there exist Ui1 , , Uik
i

such that
i
Ai kj=1
Uij , i = 1, , n.
i
Hence A = ni=1 kj=1
Uij , i.e., A is compact.

7. Let A and B be disjoint compact subspaces of the Hausdorff space X. Show that there exist disjoint
open sets U and V containing A and B respectively.
Proof. Let A, B be two compact subsets of Hausdorff space X A B = . Fix a A, for any b B,
there exist open subsets Va,b and Ub such that a Va,b and b Ub and Va,b Ub = . Obviously we
have
B = bB Ub .
From the compactness of B, it follows that there exist b1 , , bn such that
B ni=1 Ubi .

Let Ua = ni=1 Ubi . Then the set Va = ni=1 Va,b is a neighborhood of a and Va Ua = . Its easy to see
that this process works for any a. So for any a A, we have Va and Ua such that Va Ua = . Note
that Ua changes as a varies. We see that
A aA Va .
m
Now the compactness of A implies that there exist a1 , , am such that A m
i=1 Vai . Let V = i Vai
and U = m
i Uai . Then we have U V = and A V, B U.

8. Show that if f : X Y is continuous, where X is compact and Y is Hausdorff, then f is closed map.
Proof. Let C be a closed subset of X. Since X is compact, then C is compact, thus f (C) is compact.
By the condition that Y is Hausdorff, it follows that f (C) is closed.
9. Show that if Y is compact , then the projection 1 : X Y X is a closed map.
Proof. Let C X Y be any closed subset. We want to show that 1 (C) is closed. Equivalently we
have to show that X 1 (C) is open. Since C is closed, so X Y C is open. We may write
X Y C = U V
where U X is open and V Y is open. Now take any point x0 X 1 (C) we want to find a
neighborhood W of x0 such that W X 1 (C) We first note that {x0 }Y = 11 ({x0 }) X Y C.
By tube lemma , there exists W a neighborhood of x0 such that
{x0 } Y W Y X Y C.
Hence
W = 1 (W Y ) X 1 (C).
Therefore X 1 (C) is open.
10. Let f : X Y ; let Y be compact Hausdorff. Then f is continuous if and only if the graph of f ,
Gf = {x f (x)|x X},
is closed in X Y.
Proof. Lets first assume that f : X Y is continuous. To show that the graph Gf is closed in X Y,
is suffices to show that X Y Gf is open. Take any point (x0 , y0 ) X Y Gf , then y0 6= f (x0 ).
Since Y is Hausdorff, there exist U, V , y0 U , f (x0 ) V , and U V = . Then f 1 (V ) X is open
and we claim that f 1 (V ) U Gf = , thus f 1 (V ) U X Y gf . If not, say there exists
(x, y) f 1 (V ) U Gf , then y = f (x) and f (x) V and y U . This is impossible since U V = .
Now lets assume that gf is closed in X Y. We want to show that f : X Y is continuous. For any
open subset V of Y , then Gf X (Y V ) is closed in X Y, so by the last problem, 1 (Gf X (Y V ))
is closed in X. Its easy to see that
1 (Gf X (Y V )) = X f 1 (V ),
since Gf X (Y V ) = {x f (x)|f (x) Y V }. Hence X f 1 (V ) is closed, i.e., f 1 (V ) is open.
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11. Let p : X Y be a closed continuous surjective map such that p1 ({y}) is compact, for each y Y .
Show that if Y is compact, then X is compact.
Proof. We first claim that if U is an open set containing p1 ({y}), then there is a neighborhood W
of y such that p1 (W ) U. To show the claim, we look at the closed subset X U, then p(X U ) is
closed, i.e., Y p(X U ) is open. Then there is W , a neighborhood of y such that W Y p(X U ),
hence p1 (W ) U.
Now we show that X is compact. Let X = U be an open covering. For any y Y , there are some
Ui s of U such that
i Ui p1 ({y}).
Since p1 ({y}) is compact, so there exist a finite subcovering ni=1 Ui p1 ({y}). Let Uy = ni=1 Ui .
This process works for any point y, so to each y, we obtain an open subsetUy containing p1 ({y}).
Then by the claim, there exists Wy Y open, such that
Uy p1 (Wy ).
Obviously we have Y = yY Wy , so there exist y1 , ym such that Y = m
j=1 = Wyj as Y is compact.
So
m
1
X = f 1 (Y ) = f 1 (m
(Wyj ) m
j=1 Wyj ) = j=1 f
j=1 Uyj .
Since each Uyj is a union of finitely many U thus we obtained a finite subcovering. Hence X is
compact.