PMA307: Metric spaces Results and Denitions

1. Let E R be a set of real numbers. (a) A number B R is an upper bound for E if x S is an upper bound for E ; If B is any other upper bound for E, then S (c) E is bounded above if it has an upper bound. 2. Let E R be a set of real numbers. (a) A number B R is a lower bound for E if x B for all x E . B for all x E .

(b) A number S R is a supremum, or least upper bound, if B.

(b) A number S R is an inmum, or greatest lower bound, if S is a lower bound for E ; If B is any other lower bound for E, then S (c) E is bounded below if it has a lower bound. 3. A non-empty set E R which is bounded above has a supremum. A non-empty subset of R which is bounded below has an inmum. The above two statements are often referred to as the least upper bound axiom and greatest lower bound axiom respectively. The supremum of a set E will be denoted by sup E . The inmum of a set will be denoted by inf E . 4. A metric space consists of a non-empty set X , together with a distance function, or metric, d : X X R. (If x and y belong to X , we will think of d(x, y ) as being the distance from x to y .) Our distance function must satisfy the following rules: M1 for all x, y X , d(x, y ) 0 and d(x, y ) = 0 if and only if x = y ; 1 B.

M2 for all x, y X , d(x, y ) = d(y, x); M3 for all x, y, z X , d(x, z ) ity ]. d(x, y ) + d(y, z ) [the triangle inequal0, then the closed r}.

5. Let (X, d) be a metric space, and let x X . If r ball centred at x with radius r is B [x, r] = {y X such that d(x, y )

Thus the closed ball consists of all the points in X that are a distance of at most r from x. Similarly, the open ball centred at x with radius r is B (x, r) = {y X such that d(x, y ) < r}. This is all the points in X that are a distance of less than r from x. 6. The following are metrics on Rn : (a) The Euclidean Metric d on Rn is given by the rule d((a1 , . . . , an ), (b1 , . . . , bn )) = (a1 b1 )2 + + (an bn )2 .

When we think of Rn as a metric space we will use the Euclidean metric unless otherwise stated. (b) The taxicab metric d1 on Rn is given by d1 ((a1 , . . . , an ), (b1 , . . . , bn )) = |a1 b1 | + + |an bn |. (c) The supremum metric D on Rn is given by the rule D((a1 , . . . , an ), (b1 , . . . , bn )) = sup{|a1 b1 |, . . . , |an bn |}. 7. The CauchySchwartz inequality states that for a1 , . . . , an , b1 , . . . , bn R we have |a1 b1 + a2 b2 + + an bn | There is equality if and only if a2 an a1 = = = . b1 b2 bn 8. Let I = [a, b] be a closed bounded interval (so < a b < ). We write C (I ) for the space of continuous functions from I to R. For f, g C (I ) dene 2
2 a2 1 + + an 2 b2 1 + + bn .

(a) D(f, g ) = sup{|f (x) g (x)| | x I }, (b) d1 (f, g ) =

b a

|f (x) g (x)| dx.

D, d1 are metrics on C (I ). The metric D is usually called the supremum metric (and often denoted by d ). 9. Let (xn ) be a sequence in the metric space (X, d). Let a X . We say that xn a, or (xn ) converges to a, or (xn ) has limit a, if: Given an > 0, we can nd a number N such that d(xn , a) < for all n > N . Basic properties: (a) A sequence in a metric space (X, d) has at most one limit. (b) Let (xn ) be a sequence in X and a X . Then xn a in (X, d) if and only if d(xn , a) 0 in R. (c) Let (xn ) be a sequence in a metric space X converging to a limit a X . Then any subsequence (xnk ) also converges to a. Warning: Not every sequence has a limit! 10. Let X be a metric space, and let F be a subset of X . We say that F is a closed subset of X if, whenever we have a sequence x1 , x2 , . . . of elements of the subset F which converges to a limit a X , then the limit a lies in the subset F . Basic properties: (a) A closed ball in a metric space is closed. (b) X is closed. The empty set is also closed. (c) An arbitrary intersection of closed sets is closed. (d) A nite union of closed sets is closed. 11. A subset U of a metric space X is called open if the complement X \ U is closed. Basic properties: (a) An open ball in a metric space is open. (b) X, are open. (c) An arbitrary union of open sets is open. 3

(d) A nite intersection of open sets is open. 12. A set is open precisely when every point of the set can be surrounded by a small open ball also contained in the set. More precisely, let (X, d) be a metric space and let U X . Then U is open if and only if the following holds: For each u U we can nd a real number ru > 0 such that the open ball B (u, ru ) is contained in U . 13. A function f : X Y between two metric spaces (X, dX ) and (Y, dY ) is continuous at x X if one of the following equivalent conditions holds: (A) For all > 0, there exists > 0 such that dY (f (x), f (y )) < for all y such that dX (x, y ) < . We can rewrite this in terms of open balls: for all exists > 0 such that f (B (x, )) B (f (x), ). > 0, there

(B) Whenever we have a sequence x1 , x2 , . . . of elements of X converging to x X , then the sequence f (x1 ), f (x2 ), . . . in Y converges to the limit f (x) Y . We say that a function f : X Y is continuous if f is continuous at every x X . 14. Let f : X Y be a map between two metric spaces X, Y . The following are equivalent: (a) f is continuous. (b) If A Y is closed then f 1 (A) is closed in X . (c) If A Y is open then f 1 (A) is open in X . 15. We say that a sequence x1 , x2 , . . . in a metric space X is a Cauchy sequence if for all > 0, we can nd N such that whenever m, n > N , we have d(xm , xn ) < . 16. Convergent sequences are Cauchy. 17. The metric space X is complete if every Cauchy sequence in X converges to some limit in X . More generally, a subset A X is complete if every Cauchy sequence in A converges to a limit in A. 4

18. (Bolzano-Weierstrass) Let (xn ) be a sequence of real numbers which is bounded, i.e., xn for all n. Then the sequence has a convergent subsequence. 19. Rn is complete. C [0, 1], regarded as a metric space with the supremum metric D, is complete. 20. Let f : X X be a function on the metric space (X, d). Then f is a contraction if there exists a constant 0 k < 1 such that d(f (x), f (y )) for all x, y X . 21. (Contraction Mapping Principle) Let f : X X be a contraction of the complete metric space (X, d). Then f has a unique xed point. Furthermore, if x0 is any point of X , then if we dene a sequence xn+1 = f (xn ), this sequence converges to the unique xed point. 22. Let X be a metric space. We say that X is compact if every sequence in X has a convergent subsequence. Let A X be a subset of a metric space. We say that A is compact if every sequence in A has a subsequence that converges to a point of A. 23. Let A be a compact subset of a metric space. Then A is complete. 24. Let A X be a closed subset of a compact space X . Then A is compact. 25. (Heine-Borel) A subset of RN with the Euclidean metric is compact if and only if it is closed and bounded. 26. Let f : X Y be a continuous map between metric spaces, and let K X be compact. Then f (K ) is compact. 27. A continuous function f : K R on a compact space K is bounded and attains its bounds. 28. A metric space (X, d) is totally bounded if for each > 0 there is a nite collection of open balls of radius which cover X. 29. A metric space X is said to have the HeineBorel property if the following holds: Let I be any set and for each i I let Ui be an open subset of X such that Ui = X.
iI

kd(x, y )

There are then nitely many indices i1 , . . . , in such that Ui1 Uin = X. Even more briey, X has the HeineBorel property if every open cover of X has a nite subcover. 30. Let (X, d) be a metric space. The following are equivalent: a. X is compact. b. X is totally bounded and complete. c. X has the HeineBorel property.