Exercises

1. Prove that the half-open interval [0, 1) is neither open nor closed in R, but is
both a union of closed sets and an intersection of open sets.
2. Prove that the set A = {0} ∪ { n1 : n ∈ N} is closed in R.
3. Find the collection of all interior points, limit points and boundary points of
(i) { n1 : n ∈ N} (ii) n
{m : m ∈ N, 1 ≤ n ≤ m} (iii) n
{m : n, m ∈ N}
1 n n
(iv) {m + m
: m ∈ N} (v) {1 + m
: n, m ∈ N} (vi) {m + m
: n, m ∈ N}
(vii) {(x, y) : 0 ≤ x ≤ 2, 1 < y < 2} (viii) {(x, y) : xy = 1, x > 0, x ∈ Q}.
4. Prove that A◦ = ∪ U , where S = {U ⊆ A : U is open }.
U ∈S
5. Prove that A = ∩ U , where S = {U : A ⊆ U and U is closed }.
U ∈S
6. Let X = {a, b, c, d} be four points. Show that the collection J := {X, φ,
{a}, {c}, {a, b}, {a, c}, {c, d}, {a, c, d}, {a, b, c}} defines a topology on X.
Find the collection of all limit points, closures, interiors, and boundaries of all
subsets of X.
7. Prove that for any set A in a topological space bd(A) = bd(A) and bd(intA) ⊆
bd(A). Give an example when all these three sets are different.
8. Find examples of sets (6= φ, X) in a topological space that are both open and
closed, neither open, nor closed.
9. Let X be an uncountable set with co-countable topology. Which of the following
sets are closed, open. Justify your answer.
(i) A is a finite set (ii) A is a countable set (iii) A is an uncountable set
(iv) A is a proper subset of X such that both A and Ac are uncountable.
10. Let X be the set of all real numbers with lower limit topology. Let α, β ∈ X,
α < β. Find the interior and closure of (i) [α, β] (ii) (α, β] (iii) [α, β).

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11. Let X be the set of all real numbers with K- topology. That is the topology
generated by the basis B := {(a, b), (a, b)KK : a, b ∈ R, a < b}, where
K = { n1 : n ∈ N}. Find the closure and interior of the set E = { n1 : n ∈ N}.
12. Let X be the set of all natural numbers with the usual topology (i.e., N is
considered as a subset of R). Find all the open and closed sets in X.
13. Let A, B are nonempty subsets of a topological space X. Assume that
bd(A) ∩ bd(B) = φ. Prove that int(A ∪ B) = int(A) ∪ int(B).
14. Let J1 and J2 be two topologies on X. Prove that identity map
id : (X, J1 ) → (X, J2 ) is continuous if and only if J1 is finer then J2 (that is
J2 ⊆ J1 ).
15. Give an example of a continuous map f from a topological space X to another
topological space Y , such that f (A) is not open (respectively not closed) for a
open (closed) subset A in X.
16. Let X be a topological space. Prove that a map f : X → R is continuous if
and only if for every a ∈ R the sets f −1 (−∞, a) := {x ∈ R : f (x) < a} and
f −1 (a, ∞) := {x ∈ R : f (x) > a} are open.
17. Let (X, JX ), (Y, JY ) and (Z, JZ ) be topological spaces. If functions f : X → Y
and g : Y → Z are continuous, then show that the composition g ◦ f : X → Z
is continuous. Is the converse true? Justify your answer.
18. Given a function f : X → Y and a basis B for Y , then f is continuous if and
only if f −1 (U ) is open in X for each U ∈ B.
19. Given a function f : X → Y and a subbasis S which generates the topology on
Y , then f is continuous if and only if f −1 (U ) is open for X for each U ∈ S.
20. Suppose f : X → Y is continuous, A ⊂ X. Show that f |A is continuous, where
g = f |A : A → Y is defined as g(x) = f (x) for all x ∈ A.

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21. Give an example of a function f : R → R, such that

(a) f is continuous at exactly 10 points.

(b) f is discontinuous only at 2n number of points, n ∈ N.

22. Say true or false and justify your answer. Let J1 , J2 be topologies on R.
Suppose f : (R, J1 ) → (R, J2 ) is defined as f (x) = |x|.

(a) if J1 and J2 are usual and lower limit topologies respectively, then f is
continuous,
(b) if J1 and J2 are lower limit and usual topologies respectively, then f is
continuous,
(c) if J1 and J2 both are lower limit topologies, then f is continuous.

23. Say true or false and justify your answer. Let J1 , J 2 be two topologies on R.
 x − 1 if x < 0,
Suppose f :(R, J1 ) → (R, J2 ) is defined as f (x) :=
 x + 1 if x ≥ 0

(a) if J1 and J2 are usual and lower limit topologies respectively, then f is
continuous,
(b) if J1 and J2 are lower limit and usual topologies respectively, then f is
continuous,
(c) if J1 and J2 both are lower limit topologies, then f is continuous.

24. Let (X, JX ) and (Y, JY ) be topological spaces and let A, B be nonempty subsets
of X with A∪B = X. Suppose f : X → Y is a function. Then prove or disprove

(a) if f |A and f |B are continuous, then f is continuous,

(b) if f |A and f |B are continuous and bd(A)∩bd(B) = ∅, then f is continuous.

25. Let f, g : (R, Js ) → (R, Js ), (where Js is the usual (standard) topology on R)

be continuous. Prove or disprove:

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(a) the set {x ∈ R : f (x) ≤ g(x)} is closed,

(b) the function h : R → R defined as h(x) := min{f (x), g(x)} for x ∈ R is

continuous,

(c) the function h : R → R, defined as h(x) := max{f (x), g(x)} for x ∈ R is

continuous.

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