Chapter 1

SETS OF REAL NUMBERS

(to be updated)
Outline
Sets of numbers, operations, functions
Sets of natural, integer, rational and real numbers
Operations with real numbers and their properties
Representations of real numbers
Elements of topology

1.1

Sets of real numbers

1.2

Elements of topology in R and Rn

We denote by
N = {0, 1, 2, . . .}
Z = {.
. . , 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, . ..}
Q= m
n : m, n Z, n 6= 0
R

(the
(the
(the
(the

set
set
set
set

of
of
of
of

natural numbers)
integer numbers)
rational numbers)
real numbers)

In the following chapters, we will also be concerned with the sets R2 , R3 , or more generally Rn
(n
/ 1), defined as follows
Rn = {x = (x1 , x2 , . . . , xn ) : x1 , x2 , . . . xn R} .
Given a point x = (x1 , x2 , . . . , xn ) Rn , x1 , x2 , . . . , xn are called the coordinates of x. In the cases
n = 1, 2 and 3 we can represent x by a point on the real line, in the real plane, respectively in the
real space, as indicated in the figure below. In the cases n 4 we cannot represent the point x (it is
dicult for example to sketch a 4 dimensional space!), but we can still think x a being a point in Rn .
Alternately, the point x Rn can also be viewed as a vector in Rn , from the origin to the
corresponding point x (see Figure 1.1 above).
Recalling the addition of vectors, we can define the addition of points in Rn as follows: if x =
(x1 , . . . , xn ) and y = (y1 , . . . , yn ), we define x + y by
x + y = (x1 + y1 , . . . , xn + yn ) .
There are two multiplication operations which can be performed with a point/vector in Rn :

(1.1)

CHAPTER 1. SETS OF REAL NUMBERS

x2

x3

R2

x
0

x1

R3

x1

x2

Figure 1.1: Graphic representation of a point (vector) x in R, R2 and R3 .

i) multiplication by a scalar: if x = (x1 , . . . , xn ) Rn and c R, we define the scalar product cx Rn
by
(1.2)
cx = (cx1 , . . . , cxn )
ii) dot product: if x = (x1 , . . . , xn ), y = (y1 , . . . , yn ) Rn , we define the dot product x y R by
x y = x1 y1 + . . . xn yn
Rn

(1.3)

Using Pythagoras theorem, it is not dicult to see that the length of the vector x = (x1 , . . . , xn )
(denoted by ||x||) is given by
q

||x|| = x21 + . . . + x2n = x x.

(1.4)

The length kxk of a vector in Rn is called in mathematics the norm of x. It has the following
properties:
Proposition 1.2.1 For any x, y Rn we have the following:
i) kxk 0
ii) kxk = 0 implies x = 0 = (0, . . . , 0)
iii) kxk kyk kx yk kxk + kyk
iv) kxk = kxk
v) kcxk = c kxk for any c > 0.

Proof. Exercise.
From Figure 1.2 we can see that the distance between the points x = (x1 , . . . , xn ), y = (y1 , . . . , yn )
Rn is equal to the length of the vector x y, hence we define
q
dist (x, y) = ||x y|| = (x1 y1 )2 + . . . + (xn yn )2 .
(1.5)

Remark 1.2.2 Note that in the case n = 1, the above formula becomes
q
dist (x, y) = ||x y|| = (x1 y1 )2 = |x1 y1 | ,

in which we recognize the usual formula for the distance between two points on the real line: the
distance is just the absolute value of their dierence.
Also, in the cases n = 2 and n = 3 the above formula becomes the familiar formulae from analytic
geometry
q
dist (x, y) = ||x y|| =

(x1 y1 )2 + (x2 y2 )2 ,

Mihai N. Pascu Mathematical Analysis lecture notes

CHAPTER 1. SETS OF REAL NUMBERS

y
xy
x
0
Figure 1.2: The distance between the points x and y is the length kx yk of the vector x y.
respectively
dist (x, y) = ||x y|| =

q
(x1 y1 )2 + (x2 y2 )2 + (x3 y3 )2 .

Thus, in general, we will write kx yk for the distance between two points in Rn (perhaps in the
case n = 1 it is more common to write |x y| instead kx yk, altough both notations are acceptable).
Often, we are interested in describing the points close to a given point x Rn . Recalling that
the distance between x and y is just kx yk, this leads to the following definition:
Definition 1.2.3 We define the open ball with center x Rn and radius r > 0 by
B (x, r) = {y Rn : kx yk < r} .

x
r

B(x, r)
xr

x+r

(1.6)

R2

R3

B(x, R)
x1

x
0

B(x, R)

Figure 1.3: The ball B (x, r) centered at x of radius r > 0 in R, R2 and R3 .

Remark 1.2.4 In the case n = 1, we obtain
B (x, r) = {y R : |x y| < r} = (x r, x + r) ,
so in this case the ball is just the interval centered at x of radius r.
In the case n = 2, we obtain
o
n
B (x, r) = {y R : ||x y|| < r} = y = (y1 , y2 ) R2 : (x1 y1 )2 + (x2 y2 )2 < r2 ,

so in this case the ball is just the disk centered at x of radius r.

In the case n = 3, we obtain
o
n
B (x, r) = {y R : ||x y|| < r} = y = (y1 , y2 , y3 ) R3 : (x1 y1 )2 + (x2 y2 )2 + (x3 y3 )2 < r2 ,
so in this case the ball is just the ball centered at x of radius r.
In the higher dimensional cases (n > 3), even though we cannot represent graphically the ball
B (x, ), we will still refer to B (x, ) as the open ball of center x and radius r.
Mihai N. Pascu Mathematical Analysis lecture notes

CHAPTER 1. SETS OF REAL NUMBERS

The notion of an open set, extends the notion of an open interval. Recall that in R, an open
interval (a, b) is just the set of all points between (and not including) a and b, that is
(a, b) = {x R : a < x < b} .
What makes the interval (a, b) open, is the following property:
x (a, b)

> 0 s.t.

(x , x + ) (a, b) ,

which can also be written in the following form

x (a, b)

> 0 s.t. B (x, ) (a, b) .

In this form, this is exactly the definition of an open set in Rn :

Definition 1.2.5 A set A Rn is called open if for any point x A there exists an > 0 such that
B (x, ) A.
A set A Rn is closed if the complement Ac = Rn A is an open set.
A neighborhood of a point x Rn is any set V = Vx Rn for which there exists > 0 such that
B (x, ) V .
Note that by definition, the empty set and Rn are both open sets and closed sets.
Example 1.2.6 For any a, b R, a < b, the open intervals (a, b) are open sets, and the closed
intervals [a, b] are closed sets. Note that the intervals (a, b] and [a, b) are neither open nor closed.
Conversely, it can be shown that a set A R is open if and only if it is a union of open intervals,
that is A = n1 (an , bn ).
Some properties of open/closed sets are contained in the following:
Proposition 1.2.7 Finite intersections of open sets and arbitrary unions of open sets are open. Finite
unions and arbitrary intersections of closed sets are closed sets.
Proof. Exercise.
The following definition is meant to show the relative position of a point with respect to a set.
The formal definition is the following:
Definition 1.2.8 A point x Rn is called an:
i) interior point of A if there exists > 0 such that B (x, ) A;
ii) closure point of A if for any > 0, A B (x, ) 6= ;
iii) boundary point of A if for any > 0, A B (x, ) 6= and B (x, ) * A;
iv) accumulation point / limit point of the set A if for any > 0, A (B (x, ) {x}) 6= ;
v) isolated point if x A but x is not an accumulation point of A.
Remark 1.2.9 The notion of accumulation / limit point of a set has the following equivalent interpretation. A point x Rn is a limit point of A if and only if there exists a sequence x1 , x2 , . . . A {x}
of points in A {x} such that limn xn = x.
In other words, a limit point point x of A is a point which can be obtained as the limit of points in
A {x} (both requirements that xn A and xn 6= x are essential here).
Definition 1.2.10 Given a set A Rn , we define:

Mihai N. Pascu Mathematical Analysis lecture notes

CHAPTER 1. SETS OF REAL NUMBERS

i) the interior of the set A (denoted A) as the set of all interior points of A, that is

A = {x Rn : x interior point of A}
as the the set of all closure points of A, that is
ii) the closure of the set A (denoted A)
A = {x Rn : x closure point of A}
iii) the boundary of A (denoted A) by:

A = A A

Remark 1.2.11 It can be shown that A is the largest open set contained in A, more precisely
[

B,

and A is the smallest closed set containing A, that is

\
A =

B.

A=

BA,Bopen

AB,Bclosed

We have the following:

Proposition 1.2.12 Given an arbitrary set A Rn , the interior A is an open set and the closure A
is a closed set, and we have:

A A A.
Example 1.2.13 For any a, b R with a < b, the interior of the set (a, b] is (a, b) and its closure is
[a, b].

For the set A = (1, 2] {3}, the set of interior points is A = (1, 2), the set of closure points is

A = [1, 2] {3}, the boundary points are x = 1, 2 and 3, the set of accumulation points is [1, 2], and
the only isolated point is x = 3.

1.3

Exercises

Mihai N. Pascu Mathematical Analysis lecture notes