Solutions

Problem 30.
Let x
0
be any xed point in an arbitrary metric space (X, d), and prove that
f
0
(x) = d(x, x
0
) denes a continuous function f
0
: X R into the Euclidean line.
Solution 30.
Choose any y, z X. The triangle inequality gives
d(y, x
0
) d(y, z) + d(z, x
0
) and d(z, x
0
) d(z, y) + d(y, x
0
),
whence f
0
(y) f
0
(z) d(y, z) and f
0
(z) f
0
(y) d(z, y). So
d(y, z) < |f
0
(y) f
0
(z)| < ;
thus f
0
is continuous at y, by choosing = .
Problem 31.
If f : R
+
R and g : R R
+
are given by f(x) =
+

x and g(x) = x
2
, describe
their composition f g.
Construct two non-zero functions f and g between metric spaces such that
f g is continuous, but f and g are not both continuous.
Solution 31.
By denition, f(g(x)) = x for x < 0 and x for x 0. In other words,
f g = | |, the absolute value function.
Let f, g : R R be dened by f(x) = x
2
and g(x) = 1 for x < 0 and +1 for
x > 0. So f is continuous, but g is discontinuous at x = 0. However, f(g(x)) = 1
for all x R, so f g is continuous.
Problem 32.
Let f, g : R R be dened by
f(x) = x sin(1/x) and g(x) = sin(1/x) if x = 0 ,
and f(0) = g(0) = 0. Prove that f is continuous at 0; is it continuous everywhere?
What about g?
47
Solution 32.
Take = . Then
|x 0| < |f(x) f(0)| |x| < ,
so f is continuous at 0. Elsewhere, f is a product of the continuous functions
h
1
(x) = x and h
2
(x) = sin(1/x), and is therefore continuous.
Given any > 0, there exist x such that |x 0| < || and g(x) = 1; for
example, x = 1/(2N + /2) for suciently large integers N. It is therefore
never possible to ensure that |g(x) g(0)| < , and g is not continuous at x = 0.
It is continuous at every other point.
Problem 33.
Given the sequence space ({0, 1}

, d

), consider f
1
: {0, 1}

{0, 1}

de-
ned by inserting 1 at the beginning of any sequence. Prove that f
1
is continuous,
and decreases distance in the sense that d

(f
1
(x), f
1
(y)) < d

(x, y) for x = y.
Describe the corresponding statements for the space of sequences (a
i
: i 0)
of Example 1.30. Are they still true?
Solution 33.
By denition, f
1
(x) = 1x
0
x
1
, . . . and f
1
(y) = 1y
0
y
1
, . . . ..So
d

(f
1
(x), f
1
(y)) =

j=1
|x
j1
y
j1
|
2
j
=
1
2

j1=0
|x
j1
y
j1
|
2
j1
=
1
2
d

(x, y) .
In particular, d

(f
1
(x), f
1
(y)) d

(x, y), with equality only if x = y.

It also follows that B

2
(x) = B

(f
1
(x)) for any > 0, and therefore that f
1
is
continuous by choosing any 2.
Now suppose that f
1
(a) = (1, a
i
: i 0) = (1, a
0
, a
1
, . . . ), using the l
1
metric.
Then we state that f
1
is continuous, and decreases distance.
Note rst that

i0
|f
1
(a)
i
| = 1 +

i0
|a
i
| .
So a X implies f
1
(a) X, and f
1
is well dened. However,
d
1
(f
1
(a), f
1
(b)) =

i1
|a
i1
b
i1
| =

i10
|a
i1
b
i1
| = d
1
(a, b) .
Thus f
1
does not decrease distance it preserves distance!
So it follows that B

(a) = B

(f
1
(a)) for any > 0, and therefore that f
1
is
continuous by choosing any .
Problem 34.
Explain why the relation
(X, d
X
) (Y, d
Y
) there exists a homeomorphism X Y
48
is an equivalence relation on metric spaces.
Solution 34.
It is required to show that (i) (X, d
X
) (X, d
X
), that (ii) (X, d
X
) (Y, d
Y
)
implies (Y, d
Y
) (X, d
X
), and that (iii) (X, d
X
) (Y, d
Y
) and (Y, d
Y
) (Z, d
Z
)
implies (X, d
X
) (Z, d
Z
).
Consider the identity function h = 1
X
; it is bijective, and its own inverse.
Both are therefore continuous, so 1
X
is a homeomorphism, and (i) holds.
Given a homeomorphism h: X Y , note that h
1
: Y X exists and is
bijective, because h is bijective; moreover, (h
1
)
1
= h, so both h
1
and its
inverse are continuous. Thus h
1
is a homeomorphism, and (ii) holds.
Finally, given two homeomorphisms h: X Y and j : Y Z, note that
the composition j h: X Z is bijective because both h and j are bijective.
Furthermore, (j h)
1
= h
1
j
1
. Now all of h, j, h
1
and j
1
are continuous
by assumption, so j h and h
1
j
1
are continuous by Theorem 4.12. Thus j h
is a homeomorphsm, and (iii) holds.
Problem 35.
Prove that the unit interval [0, 1] is not homeomorphic to the unit square
{(x, y) : 0 x, y 1} in the Euclidean plane.
Solution 35.
Apply Proposition 4.24 as in Corollary 4.25, by assuming that there exisits a
homeomorphism h: [0, 1] Q, where Q denotes the unit square.
So h must restrict to a function h

: [0, 1] \{1/2} Q\{h(1/2)}, which is also

a homeomorphism. Why? Well, it is clear that h

is bijective, but the continuity

of h

and its inverse demand some care. Both follow from the fact that the open
balls of [0, 1] \ {1/2} take the form (a, b) \ {1/2}, where 0 a < b 1, and the
open balls of Q\ {h(1/2)} take the form B
r
(x) (Q\ {h(1/2)}), where B
r
(x) is
an open ball in R
2
. Note here that 1/2 may or may not lie in (a, b), and h(1/2)
may or may not lie in B
r
(x).
Now h

has non-path connected domain and path connected codomain, con-

tradicting Proposition 4.24. So no such h exists.
49