MATH 3033 Real Analysis

Homework 02 -Suggested Solution

HUNG, Chun Kit*

Last Updated: March 20, 2022

1. For any x, y ∈ Rm , let d(x, y) = ∥x − y∥.

(a) Let S be a nonempty, bounded subset of Rm , show that diam S := sup{d(x, y) | x, y ∈ S} exists in
R and diam S = diam S.

Solution: Since S is bounded, for any s ∈ S, there exists M > 0, such that ∥s∥ < M . Then, by
triangle inequality, for any x, y ∈ S,

d(x, y) ≤ d(x, 0) + d(y, 0) = ∥x∥ + ∥y∥ ≤ 2M.

So the set {d(x, y) | x, y ∈ S} is bounded above, and its supremum, diam S exists in R.
Since S ⊆ S, it’s clear that diam S ≤ diam S by the property of supremum. We only need to show
diam S ≤ diam S. Fix ε > 0, and choose x, y ∈ S, recall that S is the set of all adherent point of S,
we have B(x, ε) ∩ S ̸= ϕ and B(y, ε) ∩ S ̸= ϕ. Hence, we can pick x′ , y ′ ∈ S, such that d(x, x′ ) < ε
and d(y, y ′ ) < ε.
Then,

d(x, y) ≤ d(x, x′ ) + d(x′ , y ′ ) + d(y ′ , y)

≤ d(x′ , y ′ ) + 2ε
≤ diam S + 2ε.

By taking supremum on both sides of the above inequality, we have

diam S ≤ diam S + 2ε.

Since ε > 0 is arbitrary, by taking limit ε → 0, we have diam S ≤ diam S, and this completes the
proof.

* Department of Mathematics, HKUST, Clearwater Bay. Email: ckhungab@connect.ust.hk

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 (b) Let {xn } be a sequence in Rm and En = {xk | k ≥ n}, where n ∈ N. Show that {xn } is a Cauchy
sequence if and only if each En is bounded and lim diam En = 0.
n→∞

Solution:

( =⇒ ): Let {xn } be a Cauchy sequence, which converges to some L ∈ Rm by the Cauchy criteria.
For any ε > 0, there exists N ∈ N, such that, n > N implies that d(xn , L) < ε. It is equivalent to
En ⊂ B(L, ε) for any n > N . For n ≤ N , let r = max{ε, ∥x1 − L∥, ∥x2 − L∥, · · · , ∥xN − L∥},
then En ⊆ B(L, r). Hence, each En is bounded.
Since {xn } be a Cauchy sequence, for any ε > 0, there exists N ∈ N, such that, p, q > n > N
implies that d(xp , xq ) < ε. Our choice of p, q guarantees that xp , xq ∈ En , and we have diam En =
| diam En − 0| < ε by taking supremum. This proves lim diam En = 0.
n→∞
( ⇐= ): If each En is bounded and lim diam En = 0, then for any ε > 0, there exists N ∈ N, such
n→∞
that, n > N implies that | diam En − 0| = diam En < 2ε . Consider p, q > N , then xp , xq ∈ EN and
ε
d(xp , xq ) ≤ diam EN < 2 < ε, which proves {xn } is a Cauchy sequence. The boundedness of En
is implicitly used to guarantee the existence of diam En .

2. Let U ⊆ Rn be open and f : U → Rm be a continuous function on U . Prove or disprove each of the

following statements:

(a) If O ⊆ U is an open set in Rn , then f (O) is open in Rm .

Solution: The statement is false.

Consider the constant map f1 : U → Rm given by f1 (x) = 0 ∈ Rm . For any open subset of U , the
image f1 (O) = {0}, which is closed.

(b) If B ⊆ U is a bounded set in Rn , then f (B) is bounded in Rm .

Solution: The statement is false.

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Let n = m = 1, and B = (0, 1) ⊆ U . Consider f2 (x) = x, then f2 (B) = f2 ((0, 1)) = (1, ∞),
which is unbounded.

(c) If {xk }∞ ∞ m
k=1 is a Cauchy sequence in U , then {f (xk )}k=1 is a Cauchy sequence in R .

Solution: The statement is false.

1 1
Let U = R and f2 (x) = x. Consider xk = k for k ∈ N, which is clearly a Cauchy sequence in R.
However, f2 (xk ) = k cannot be a Cauchy sequence.

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3. Let f : R2 → R be defined by

xy 2

x2 +y 4
if (x, y) ̸= (0, 0),
f (x, y) =
 0 if (x, y) = (0, 0).

(a) Prove that the direction derivative of f along any direction exists.

xy 2
Solution: For (x, y) ̸= (0, 0), f (x, y) = , and we can compute its partial derivatives:
x2 + y 4

x2 − y 4 x2 − y 4
fx (x, y) = −y 2 , fy (x, y) = 2xy .
(x2 + y 4 )2 (x2 + y 4 )2

Hence, the directional derivative at every (x, y) ̸= (0, 0) along any direction u = (u1 , u2 ) exists, and
is given by Du f (x, y) = (fx , fy ) · u.
For (x, y) = (0, 0), we fix (u1 , u2 ) = u ∈ R2 , then by definition of directional derivative, we have

f (hu1 , hu2 ) − f (0, 0)

Du f (0, 0) = lim
h→0 h
(hu1 )(hu2 )2
 
1
= lim
h→0 h (hu1 )2 + (hu2 )4

u1 u22
= lim 2
h→0 u1 + h2 u4 2
u22
= if u1 ̸= 0.
u1

If u1 = 0, we also have

f (0, hu2 ) − f (0, 0)

Du f (0, 0) = lim
h→0 h
1 0 · (hu2 )2
 
= lim = 0.
h→0 h (hu2 )4

Therefore, at (x, y) = (0, 0), the direction derivative of f along any direction u exists as well.

(b) Prove that lim f (x, y) does not exist and hence f is not continuous at (0, 0).
(x,y)→(0,0)

Solution: We consider two different paths:

Along x = y, we have

x · x2
lim f (x, y) = lim = 0.
(x,y)→(0,0) x→0 x2 + x4

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 Along x = y 2 , we have

y4 1
lim f (x, y) = lim = ̸= 0.
(x,y)→(0,0) y→0 y 4 + y 4 2

Along different paths, the limit does not give the same result, which implies the limit does not exist.
Hence, f is not continuous at (0, 0).

4. Let K ⊆ Rn be compact, V ⊆ Rm , and f : K → V be a bijective function such that it is continuous on

K. Prove that f −1 : V → K is continuous on V .

Solution: By Heine-Borel theorem, K is compact if and only if it is closed and bounded.

Let C be a closed subset of K, since K is bounded, C is also bounded, hence C is compact. By the
continuity of f , f (C) is compact in Rm , i.e. closed and bounded by Heine-Borel Theorem. Observe that,
since f is a bijection,

f (C) = {y ∈ V | there exists an unique x ∈ K, s.t. y = f (x)}

= {y ∈ V | there exists an unique x ∈ K, s.t. f −1 (y) = x}
= {y ∈ V | f −1 (y) ∈ C}
= (f −1 )−1 (C).

Hence, for any closed subset C ⊆ K, the inverse image of C under f −1 is closed, which proves the
continuity of f −1 .

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5. Let f : R2 → R be defined by
  
(x2 + y 2 ) sin √ 1
if (x, y) ̸= (0, 0),

f (x, y) = x2 +y 2

 0 if (x, y) = (0, 0).

Show that
∂f ∂f
(a) , are discontinuous at (0, 0).
∂x ∂y

Solution: For (x, y) ̸= (0, 0), we can compute fx and fy easily using chain rule and product rule,
which are
! !
1 x 1
fx (x, y) = 2x sin p −p cos p ,
x2 + y 2 x2 + y 2 x2 + y 2
! !
1 y 1
fy (x, y) = 2y sin p −p cos p .
x2 + y 2 x2 + y 2 x2 + y 2

Along the x-axis, with x ̸= 0, we have

   
1 x 1
fx (x, 0) = 2x sin − cos .
|x| |x| |x|

Since x/|x| is either +1 or −1 depending on the sign of x, we can see the latter term diverges as
x → 0. Similar for fy along the y-axis. Hence, both fx and fy are not continuous at (0, 0).

(b) f is differentiable everywhere.

Solution: For (x, y) ̸= (0, 0), the partial derivatives fx , fy can be computed explicitly, and both fx
and fy are clearly continuous everywhere except the origin. By theorem 3.2 in the lecture notes, f is
differentiable on R2 \ {(0, 0)}.
For (x, y) = (0, 0), we observe that, for any h ∈ R2 \ {(0, 0)}, we have
 
1
f (h) − f (0, 0) = ∥h∥2 sin = o (h) .
h

From this, we can observe that Df (0, 0) = [0 0], since

  
|f (h) − f (0, 0) − Df (0, 0)h|  1 
lim = lim ∥h∥ sin = 0,
h→(0,0) ∥h∥ h→(0,0) h 

and f is differentiable at (0, 0), and hence everywhere.