Review for Examination 1

General Rules for Arguments about Continuity:

  1. To show a specific function is continuous; If there is a metric use it in an MATHargument.

  2. To show a general property of continuous functions; Use an Open Sets/Boolean Algebra argument, often even if it is about Metric Space.

Consider problem 2.7, MATH was given by the formula MATH

You were asked to show it was continuous by an MATHargument, and then by showing that the preimage of every set was open.

Given that you calculated a MATH for every MATH completing part one. How does the rest of the argument go?

Let MATH be an open set. We need to show the MATH is open. Let MATH Since is open we can find some MATH such that

MATH MATH. By the MATHargument we know that we can find such that

MATH Hence MATH MATH.

In particular, we proved part 2 by refering back to the proof in part 1.

Consider problem 3.4, MATH was such that the preimage of every closed set was closed. You were asked to show that $\QTR{Large}{f\ }$was continuous.

The proof involves some set-theoretic formulii from the "Background" notes.

If $\QTR{Large}{A}$ and $\QTR{Large}{B}$ are sets, there is some algebra associated with maps ( functions) from $\QTR{Large}{A}$ to $\QTR{Large}{B.}$ MATH

Let MATH $\QTR{Large}{B\ }$be two subsets of $\QTR{Large}{B}$ then

$\qquad $1. MATH

$\qquad $2. MATH

In particular, if MATH such that MATH then

MATH such that MATH

Thus if MATH is closed ,MATH is open.

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To Show Sets are Closed:

Really, the only tool we have at the moment is to show that the complement is open. Remember, showing a set is not open does not mean that it is closed. MATH

Problem 2.3 asked you to show that MATH was closed for any number $\QTR{Large}{x}$. To do this you need to show MATH is open.

Thus for any MATH you need to find a MATH such that MATH Anything MATH will do.