Lec 8: The Least Upper Bound Principle

MATH 147 Section 2, Fall Term 2022

I (We will first finish the material from Lecture 7)

I Extra topic: countability
I The Least Upper Bound Principle

Key references: Text book sec 1.5

Extra topic: countability

This topic will not be assessed but is interesting. Please read the text book Section 1.4.2 and additional
references for more details.

Definition 3
We say that a set A is countable if there exists a sequence {an }∞
n=1 such that A = {an : n ∈ N}. If no such
sequence exists, then we say that A is uncountable.

Definition 4
We say that a set S ⊆ R is dense in R if every open interval (a, b) contains an element of S.

Proposition 4, Proposition 5, and Theorem 2

Q is countable and dense in R.
R \ Q is uncountable and dense in R.

So there are “more” irrational numbers than rational even though between any two irrational numbers there is a
rational number!
Definitions for bounded sets

Some of the following definitions are not given in the text book.

Definition 1
Let S be a set of real numbers.
The set S is bounded above if there exists M ∈ R such that s ≤ M for all s ∈ S. The number M is an upper
bound of S.
The set S is bounded below if there exists m ∈ R such that s ≥ m for all s ∈ S. The number m is a lower
bound of S.
A set is bounded if it is both bounded above and bounded below.
The supremum or least upper bound of a nonempty set S that is bounded above is the upper bound L
satisfying L ≤ M for all other upper bounds M of S. The supremum of S is written as sup S.
The infimum or greatest lower bound of a nonempty set S that is bounded below is the lower bound l
satisfying l ≥ m for all other lower bounds m of S. The infimum of S is written as inf S.
If there exists M ∈ S such that s ≤ M for all s ∈ S, then M is called the maximum of S and is denoted maxS.
If there exists m ∈ S such that s ≥ m for all s ∈ S, then m is called the minimum of S and is denoted minS.
Examples

0. S0 = ∅
1. S1 = {n ∈ Z : n ≥ π}
2. S2 = {−3, 2, 0.5, 1.414}

3. S3 = {(1 − 1/n) : n ∈ N} = {0, 0.5, 0.666 . . . , 0.75, . . . }

4. Any other examples?

Convergence to supremum and infimum

Proposition 1
Let S be a nonempty set of real numbers.
1. If S has a supremum L = sup S, then there exists a sequence {xn }∞
n=1 in S (i.e., xn ∈ S for all n) that
converges to L.
2. If S has an infimum l = inf S, then there exists a sequence {yn }∞
n=1 in S that converges to l.

The two parts can be proved in the same way, switching inequalities around. Use the Squeeze Theorem!
The Least Upper Bound Principle (LUBP)

Theorem 1 (The Least Upper Bound Principle)

Every nonempty subset S of R that is bounded above has a supremum (least upper bound) in R. Also, every
nonempty subset S of R that is bounded below has an infimum (greatest lower bound) in R.

Proof.
We will focus on the first statement. (The second follows from the first.) Here is an outline:
1. Suppose S is a nonempty subset of R that is bounded above.
2. We will construct a nested sequence of intervals {[an , bn ]}∞
n=1 such that for each n we have an ∈ S and bn
is an upper bound of S, and we will show that lim (bn − an ) = 0.
n→∞

3. We will apply Theorem 1 from Section 1.4 to obtain a real number x = lim an = lim bn .
n→∞ n→∞

4. We will show that x = sup S, i.e., that x is an upper bound and that there is no smaller upper bound.
Remarks

1. Does the Least Upper Bound Principle seem obvious? It is a fundamental property of real numbers and
often taken for granted. In fact, a common alternative approach for defining real numbers involves
assuming the LUBP holds, i.e., making it an axiom.
2. The Least Upper Bound Principle distinguishes R from Q and other ordered fields. I.e., it is not true that
every nonempty subset S of Q that is bounded above has a rational supremum.

Example
{s ∈ Q : s 2 < 2} ⊂√Q is bounded above (and below) but does not have a rational least upper bound. (Its
supremum in Q is 2, which is not rational. Hence, given any rational upper bound, there exists a smaller
rational upper bound.)