Note 1

162-50 IBL, Winter 2014

1. Prove that [a, b] is connected for a, b C with a < b.
First proof. Assume by contradiction that there exist two open disjoint
sets U, V in C such that [a, b] U V and [a, b] U, [a, b] V 6= .
We basically need to consider two cases: case 1 (a U, b V ), and case 2
(a, b U ). Ill only discuss the first case, as the second case can be done
by a similar argument.
As a U and U is open, there exists a region (a1 , b1 ) such that a
(a1 , b1 ) U . Similarly, there exists a region (a2 , b2 ) such that b
(a2 , b2 ) V .
e = ((a1 , b2 ) U ) {x C : x < a}, and Ve = ((a1 , b2 ) V ) {x
Let U
e and Ve are nonempty, open sets in C and
C : x > b}. Clearly, U
e Ve = ((a1 , b2 ) U ) {x C : x < a} ((a1 , b2 ) V ) {x C : x > b}
U
= ((a1 , b2 ) (U V )) {x C : x < a} {x C : x > b}
[a, b] {x C : x < a} {x C : x > b} = C.
e Ve = C. You should check carefully that U
e and Ve are disjoint.
Hence U
Therefore, C is disconnected, which is absurd.
We arrive at the conclusion that [a, b] is connected.
Second proof. Assume by contradiction that there exist two open disjoint
sets U, V in C such that [a, b] U V and [a, b] U, [a, b] V 6= . We
can assume further that b V . There exists a region (a2 , b2 ) such that
b (a2 , b2 ) V .
e = U [a, b], Ve = V [a, b] and c = sup U
e . By the above, c a2 .
Let U
There are two cases to be considered.
e U , then there exists a region (a3 , b3 ) satisfying c (a3 , b3 ) U .
If c U
e,
We could see that b3 a2 . Pick d C such that c < d < b3 . Then d U
e d > c, which is the contradiction.
and hence sup U
e , then c is a limit point of U
e and c V . There exists a region
If c
/ U
(a4 , b4 ) such that
c (a4 , b4 ) V

e 6= ,
and (a4 , b4 ) U

which of course yield that U and V are not disjoint, and thus the contradiction. We are done.