University of Ghana – Department of Mathematics

Math 438 : Topology Book of Exercises

I Topological SPACES

I-1 Questions 1,4,5 page 83 of Munkres

I-2 Questions 1,2,3,4,6 page 91-92 of Munkres

I-3 Questions 1,2,3,4,6,8 page 100-101 of Munkres.

I-4 Questions 9,11,13,15 page 101 of Munkres

I-5 Questions 19,20 page 100-101 of Munkres

I-6 Let X = {a, b, c, d}. Provide example of three nontrivial topologies on X and for each of them, give
a basis.

I-7 Let C be a collection of subsets of a set X 6= ∅. We denote by T (E) the topology generated by the
collection E.

(a) Prove that the collection T (C) ∩ E is a topology on E. Deduce that T (C) ∩ E is finer than
T (C ∩ E).

(b) Assume that E ∈ T (C ∩ E). Prove that the collection

A := {A ⊆ X : A ∩ E ∈ T (C ∩ E)}

is a topology that contains C.

Deduce that A is finer that T (C) ∩ E

I-8 Let f : X → Y be a function, and C a collection of subsets of Y . Recall that

f −1 (C) = {f −1 (C) : C ∈ C}.

Prove that f −1 (T (C)) is a topology on X.

Prove that T (f −1 (C)) = f −1 (T (C)).

I-9 Let A and B be two collections of subsets of the set X. Is it true that

T (A ∩ B) = T (A) ∩ T (B)?

Elaborate.

I-10 Let X = {a, b, c} and Y = {1, 2}.

(a) Give an example of a nontrivial topology T on X

(T should be neither the trivial nor the discrete topology).

(b) Let T 0 be the discrete topology on {1, 2}.

Find a basis for the product topology on X × Y , where X has your topology T and Y has the

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 discrete topology.

I-11 Let X and Y be topological spaces, and A ⊂ X and B ⊂ Y . Prove that A × B = A × B in X × Y .

I-12 Show that a topological space X is Hausdorff if and only if the diagonal ∆ = {(x, x) : x ∈ X} is
closed in X × X.

I-13 Let X be a topological space, and A ⊂ X.

(i) Prove that if x ∈ X is a limit of a sequence (xn )n of points in A, then x is in the closure of A.

(ii) Prove that if X is Hausdorff, then each sequence has at most one limit.

(iii) Prove that if X is first-countable, then x ∈ X belongs to the closure of A if and only if x is a
limit of a sequence of points in A.

I-14 Prove that if X is Hausdorff topological space, then X × X is Hausdorff when given the product
topology.

II Metric topology

II-1 Let (X, d) be a metric space.

(a) Prove that for a ∈ X fixed and r > 0, the set

{x ∈ X : d(a, x) > r}

is open. Deduce that any closed ball is a closed set.

(b) Prove that any finite union of closed sets is a closed set.

(c) Prove that any intersection of closed sets is a closed set.

II-2 Let Ξ be a metric space and let A and B be subsets of Ξ. Prove the following.

(a) If A ⊂ B, then A ⊂ B

(b) A ∩ B ⊂ A ∩ B

(c) A ∪ B = A ∪ B

II-3 Let Ξ be a metric space and A ⊂ Ξ.

a. Prove that x ∈ A if and only if for any neighborhood Vx , Vx ∩ A 6= ∅.

b. Prove that A = A ∪ A0

I-9 Let Ξ be a metric space.

a. Prove that if A ⊂ B ⊂ Ξ, then A0 ⊂ B 0

b. Put A = {a}, a ∈ Ξ.

(i) Find Å, ∂A and A

/ A0
(ii) Prove that a ∈ ∂A but a ∈

II-4 Let (X, d) be a metric space.

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 (a) What does it means that a subset A of X is open? (5pts)

We recall that a subset B of X is closed if its complement B c in X i open.

(b) Let B ⊂ X. Define the following: interior of B (int(B)); exterior of B (ext(B)); boundary of B
denoted ∂B.

(c) We recall that the closure of a subset of B of X denoted B is the smallest closed subset of X
containing B.

(i) Prove that B = int(B) ∪ ∂B.

(ii) Prove that B ⊂ X is closed if and only if ∂B ⊂ B.

(d) Let B ⊂ X. Prove that ∂B = ∅ if and only if B is open and closed.

III Continuous functions

III-1 Questions 1,4,5,6 page 112 of Munkres

III-2 Questions 8,9,10,11,12,13 page 112 of Munkres

III-3 Questions 6,10 page 118 of Munkres.

III-4 Let X = {1, 2, 3, 4}. We endow X with the discrete topology. Consider the function f : X → R
defined by (
1 if x ∈ {1, 4}
f (x) =
0 if x ∈ / {1, 4}.
(i) Find the inverse image of any interval of R.

(ii) Prove that f −1 (R) is a topology.

(iii) Is f continuous?

III-5 Let (X, T ) and (Y, T 0 ) be two topological spaces. Let R be a basis of T 0 . Prove that a map f : X → Y
is continuous if and only if f −1 (R) ⊂ T .

III-6 Let X be a topological space and assume that X = A ∪ B, where A and B are closed subsets of X.
Let Y be a topological space and f : X → Y a function. Assume that the restrictions fA and fB are
continuous. Prove that f is continuous.

III-7 Let X be a topological spaces, and Y a set, and f : X → Y a function. Define

S := {V ⊂ Y : f −1 (V ) is open in X}.

(i) Show that S is a topology on Y .

(ii) Show that S is the finest topology on Y making f continuous.

(iii) Let Z be a topological space. Show that a function g : Y → Z is continous if and only if
g ◦ f : X → Z is continuous.

(iv) Show that S is the coarsest topology on Y such that the map g : Y → Z is continuous whenever
g ◦ f is continuous.

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 III-8 Let X and Y be topological spaces, and f : X → Y a map.

(a) Prove that if f is open and continuous, then for any subset A of X,

f (Int(A)) = Int(f (A)).

(b) Assume that Y is first-countable amd suppose that f is open and continuous. Prove that for any
subset B of X,
f (B) = f (B).

[Hint: for the inclusion f (B) ⊂ f (B̄), you may consider f (x) = y ∈ f (B) (justify this) and a
sequence (f (xn ))n in f (B) (justify this) and first prove that (xn )n converges to x]

III-9 Let (X, d) and (Y, ρ) be two metric spaces. Let f : X → Y be a map. The graph of f is the set

G(f ) := {(x, f (x)) ∈ X × Y : x ∈ X}.

(i) Prove that if f is continuous, then G(f ) is closed. (15pts)

(ii) Assume that f, g : X → Y are continuous maps. Prove that the set

{x ∈ X : f (x) = g(x)}

is closed [Hint: You may use that {x ∈ X : f (x) = g(x)} is the inverse image of the graph of g
by a continuous map to determine]. (15pts)

III-10 Let (X, d) and (Y, ρ) be two metric spaces. Assume that f : (X, d) → (Y, ρ) is an isometry, i.e.

ρ (f (x), f (y)) = d(x, y), for any x, y ∈ X.

Prove that

(i) f is continuous (4pts);

(ii) f is injective (5pts);

(iii) if moreover f is bijective with inverse f −1 , then f −1 : (Y, ρ) → (X, d) is continuous (10pts).

III-11 Let X and Y be topological spaces, and f : X → Y an homeomorphism. Prove that the following
hold.

(a) A subset A of X is dense in X if and only if f (A) is dense in Y .

(b) x ∈ X is a limit point of A ⊂ X if and only if f (x) is a limit point of f (A).

(c) X is Hausdorff if and only if Y is Hausdorff.

(d) X is first-countable if and only Y is first countable.

III-12 Let X and Y be topological spaces. Show that the projection π1 : X × Y → X defined for every
(x, y) ∈ X × Y by π1 (x, y) = x, is an open map (10pts).

IV Connectedness and compactness

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 IV-1 Let X be a topological space.

(i) Prove that if A is connected subset of X, then its closure is also connected.

(ii) Assume that for any two points in X, there is a connected subspaces containing them. Prove
that X is connected.

IV-2 Let X and Y be topological spaces, and f : X → Y a continuous function.

(a) Prove that if X is connected, then f (X) is connected.

(b) Prove that if X is compact, then f (X) is compact.

IV-3 Let A1 , A2 , · · · , An be compact subspaces of X. Prove that A1 ∪ A2 ∪ · · · ∪ An is compact.

IV-4 Let X and Y be topological spaces. Assume that X is compact and Y is Hausdorff. Prove that if
f : X → Y a continuous function, then f is closed map.

IV-5 Let X and Y be topological spaces. Show that if Y is compact, then the projection π1 : X × Y → X
defined for every (x, y) ∈ X × Y by π1 (x, y) = x is closed map.

IV-6 Let X and Y be topological spaces. Assume Y is Hausdorff, and let f : X → Y .Prove that f is
continuous if and only if the graph of f

G(f ) := {(x, f (x)) : x ∈ X}

is closed in X × Y .

IV-6 Let X and Y be topological spaces. Assume Y is Hausdorff, and let f, g : X → Y .Prove that the set
{x ∈ X : f (x) = g(x)} is closed in X. is closed in X × Y .

IV-7 Let (X, τ ) be a topological space and A ⊂ X. We denote by τA the subspace topology induced by τ
on A. Prove that A is compact with respect to τ if and only if A is compact with respect to τA .

V Countability and Separation axioms:

V-1 A space X is normal if for each pair A, B of disjoint closed subsets of X, there exist disjoint open
sets U and V in X such that A ⊂ U and B ⊂ V .
Prove that a closed subspace of a normal space is normal

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