Basic Topology of ℜ

• Classification of points
o Interior point of a set S:
 A point x is called interior point of S if there exists a neighborhood
of x completely contained in S. The set of all interior points of S is
called the interior, denoted by int(S).
o Boundary point of S: a boundary point does not have to be in S.
 A point x is called a boundary point of S if every non-empty
neighborhood of x intersects S and the complement of S. The set of
all boundary points of S is called the boundary of S, denoted ∂S.
 Interior point and boundary point are opposite concepts. A point
cannot be both interior and boundary point of S.
o Limit point of S (also called cluster point or accumulation point)
 Definitions:
 A point x is said to be a limit point of S if every open set
containing x contains a point of S distinct from x.
 A point x is called a limit point of S if every neighborhood
of x contains infinitely many distinct points of S.
 A limit point could be either an interior point or boundary point of
S.
 A limit point does not have to be in S. For example, a is a limit
point of the interval (a, b) but a is not in (a, b).
o Isolated point of S
 A point x is said to be an isolated point of S if there exists a
neighborhood of x such that the intersection of the neighborhood
and S is {x}; that is, the neighborhood does not contain any point
of S except x.
 Limit point and isolated point are opposite concepts.
 The set of all integers only has isolated points but does not have
limit points. The set of all rational numbers only has limit points
but does not have isolated points.
• Bounded set
o A set S is said to be bounded above if there exists a number u such that
x ≤ u for every x in S.
o A set S is said to be bounded below if there exists a number ℓ such that
ℓ ≤ x for every x in S.
o The least upper bound (supremum) of S is an upper bound that is less than
or equal to any other upper bound. Denote it by sup S.
o The greatest lower bound (infimum) of S is a lower bound that is greater
than or equal to any other lower bound. Denote it by inf S.
o A bounded set S may not contain sup S or inf S.
• Open sets and closed sets
o A set is called open if it contains only interior points.
o A set is called closed if its complement is open.
 A set is closed if and only if it contains all its limit points.
  A misconception: a set is closed if it is not open.
o Some sets are both open and closed, e.g., empty set and the whole set.
Some sets are neither open nor closed, e.g., (a,b].
o Why open sets are so important? They are used to Borel sets, compact
sets. A topology must be a collection of open sets if a metric is defined.
Note that we first define topology, then define metric space based on a
topological space.
• Compact sets
o For the real numbers:
 A set S of real numbers is called compact if every sequence in S
has a subsequence that converges to an element contained in S.
o The above definition of compact sets using sequence can not be used in
more abstract situations. We would also like a characterization
of compact sets based entirely on open sets. We need some definitions
first.
o Open Cover
Let S be a set of real numbers. An open cover of S is a collection C of
open sets such that S is contained by the union of the sets in C.
The collection C of open sets is said to cover the set S.

A subset of sets from the collection C that still covers the set S is called a
subcovering of S.
o Definition: A set S of real numbers is compact if and only if every open
cover C of S can be reduced to a finite subcovering.
o Heine-Borel Theorem:
 A set is compact if and only if it is closed and bounded.
o Bolzano-Weierstrass Theorem:
 Every bounded infinite set has a limit point.
 Bolzano-Weierstrass Theorem is equivalent to Heine-Borel
Theorem.
o Nested sets are a sequence of sets A_n that are decreasing: every 'next' set
A_{n+1} is a subset of its predecessor A_n.
o Intersection of nested compact sets are not empty.
o Why define compactness of a set? Nice things about a compact set:
 A compact set is closed and bounded. A closed set contains all its
limit points.
 A compact set S must have both its supremum and infimum in S.
 If F is a closed set contained in a compact set, then F is also
compact.
 Every Cauchy sequence of a compact set S converges in S.
(completeness?)
 If a function f is continuous on a compact set K, then f is uniformly
continuous on K.
 Then we can interchange the order of limit and integral. (?)
 If a function f is continuous, then the image of a compact set under
f is also compact.
  If f is a continuous function on a compact set K, then f has its
supremum and infimum attained on K. In particular, f must be
bounded on the compact set K.
 If f is lower semi-continuous function on a compact set K, then f
has its infimum attained on K.
• Closure
o The closure of a set S is the intersection of all closed sets containing S.
The closure of S is the greatest lower bound of all closed sets containing
S.
o S is equal to its closure if and only if S is closed.
• A subset B of A is called dense in A if every point of A is a limit point of B.
o The set of all rational numbers Q is dense in R.
• The collection of all measurable sets on [a,b] is a sigma-algebra. But a sigma-
algebra may have nonmeasurable sets. For example, the power set of [a,b] is a
sigma-algebra but it has nonmeasurable sets. Borel sigma-algebra is a sigma-
algebra generated by the family of all intervals in [a,b] (or in R). Borel sigma-
algebra is a proper subset of the sigma-algebra, which is the collection of all
measurable sets on [a,b]. So we have three levels (proper containing relations):
o Borel sigma-algebra (every Borel set is measurable), whose cardinality is
the cardinality of R.
o The sigma-algebra, which is the collection of all measurable sets on [a,b]
o The power set of [a,b] (it has nonmeasurable sets)
Limit point
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In mathematics, a limit point (or accumulation point) of a set S in a topological space X

is a point x in X that can be "approximated" by points of S in the sense that every
neighbourhood of x with respect to the topology on X also contains a point of S other than
x itself. This concept profitably generalizes the notion of a limit and is the underpinning
of concepts such as closed set and topological closure. Indeed, a set is closed if and only
if it contains all of its limit points, and the topological closure operation can be thought of
as an operation that enriches a set by adding its limit points.

Contents

• 1 Definition
• 2 Types of limit points
• 3 Some facts

• 4 External links

Definition

Let S be a subset of a topological space X. We say that a point x in X is a limit point of S

if every open set containing x also contains a point of S other than x itself. This is
equivalent, in a T1 space, to requiring that every neighbourhood of x contains infinitely
many points of S. (It is often convenient to use the "open neighbourhood" form of the
definition to show that a point is a limit point and to use the "general neighbourhood"
form of the definition to derive facts from a known limit point.)

Alternatively, if the space X is sequential, we may say that x ∈ X is a limit point of S if

and only if there is an ω-sequence of points in S \ {x} whose limit is x; hence, x is called a
limit point.

Types of limit points

If every open set containing x contains infinitely many points of S then x is a specific type
of limit point called a ω-accumulation point of S.

If every open set containing x contains uncountably many points of S then x is a specific
type of limit point called a condensation point of S.

If every open set U containing x satisfies |U ∩ S| = |S| then x is a specific type of limit
point called a complete accumulation point of S.
A point x ∈ X is a cluster point of a sequence (xn)n ∈ N if, for every neighbourhood V of x,
there are infinitely many natural numbers n such that xn ∈ V. If the space is sequential,
this is equivalent to the assertion that x is a limit of some subsequence of the sequence
(xn)n ∈ N.

The concept of a net generalizes the idea of a sequence. Cluster points in nets encompass
the idea of both condensation points and ω-accumulation points. Clustering and limit
points are also defined for the related topic of filters.

The set of all cluster points of a sequence is sometimes called a limit set.

Some facts

• We have the following characterisation of limit points: x is a limit point of S if

and only if it is in the closure of S \ {x}.
o Proof: We use the fact that a point is in the closure of a set if and only if
every neighbourhood of the point meets the set. Now, x is a limit point of
S, if and only if every neighbourhood of x contains a point of S other than
x, if and only if every neighbourhood of x contains a point of S \ {x}, if
and only if x is in the closure of S \ {x}.

• If we use L(S) to denote the set of limit points of S, then we have the following
characterisation of the closure of S: The closure of S is equal to the union of S and
L(S).
o Proof: ("Left subset") Suppose x is in the closure of S. If x is in S, we are
done. If x is not in S, then every neighbourhood of x contains a point of S,
and this point cannot be x. In other words, x is a limit point of S and x is in
L(S). ("Right subset") If x is in S, then every neighbourhood of x clearly
meets S, so x is in the closure of S. If x is in L(S), then every
neighbourhood of x contains a point of S (other than x), so x is again in the
closure of S. This completes the proof.

• A corollary of this result gives us a characterisation of closed sets: A set S is

closed if and only if it contains all of its limit points.
o Proof: S is closed if and only if S is equal to its closure if and only if S = S
∪ L(S) if and only if L(S) is contained in S.
o Another proof: Let S be a closed set and x a limit point of S. If x is not in S,
then we can find an open set around x contained entirely in the
complement of S. But then this set contains no point in S, so x is not a
limit point, which contradicts our original assumption. Conversely,
assume S contains all its limit points. We shall show that the complement
of S is an open set. Let x be a point in the complement of S. By
assumption, x is not a limit point, and hence there exists an open
neighborhood U of x that does not intersect S, and so U lies entirely in the
complement of S. Hence the complement of S is open.
• No isolated point is a limit point of any set.
o Proof: If x is an isolated point, then {x} is a neighbourhood of x that
contains no points other than x.

• A space X is discrete if and only if no subset of X has a limit point.

o Proof: If X is discrete, then every point is isolated and cannot be a limit
point of any set. Conversely, if X is not discrete, then there is a singleton
{x} that is not open. Hence, every open neighbourhood of {x} contains a
point y ≠ x, and so x is a limit point of X.

• If a space X has the trivial topology and S is a subset of X with more than one
element, then all elements of X are limit points of S. If S is a singleton, then every
point of X \ S is still a limit point of S.
o Proof: As long as S \ {x} is nonempty, its closure will be X. It's only
empty when S is empty or x is the unique element of S.
• By definition, every limit point is an adherent point.