Exercises 2.3 (#5 may be skipped.

)
1. Show that the union of any bounded set and its limit points is a compact set.
Solution. A = A ∪ A0 is closed. If A is bounded then A is also bounded.
(∵ Since A is bounded, there exists a constant R > 0 such that A ⊂ N (0; R) = {z | |z| ≤ R}.
Since N (0; R) is closed and A is the smallest closed set containing A (#9 in Exercises 2.2),
it follows that A ⊂ {z | |z| ≤ R}. Thus A is bounded.)
A = A ∪ A0 is closed and bounded, and hence compact by Theorem 2.11. ¤

2. Show that a compact set of real numbers contains its infimum and its supremum. Can this
occur for a set of real numbers that is not compact?
Solution. Let A ⊂ R be a compact set (A 6= ∅). Since A is bounded, both sup A(∈ R) and
inf A(∈ R) exist by the completeness axiom.
We argue by contradiction and suppose that sup A ∈/ A. Given ² > 0, there exists an element
y ∈ A such that y > sup A − ². Since sup A ∈ / A, it follows that sup A − ² < y < sup A.
Therefore sup A is a limit point of A. Since sup A ∈/ A, A is not closed, which leads to a
contradiction. Thus sup A ∈ A.
Similarly we can prove that inf A ∈ A. The details are left to the readers. ¤

3. If S(6= ∅) is compact and z0 ∈

/ S, prove that inf |z − z0 | > 0.
z∈S
Solution. Since S is closed and bounded, S c is a nonempty open set. Then there exists a
number ² > 0 such that N (z0 ; ²) ⊂ S c . Consequently |z − z0 | ≥ ² for any z ∈ S, which
implies that ² is a lower bound of {|z − z0 | | z ∈ S} ⊂ R. Therefore inf |z − z0 | > 0. ¤
z∈S
Remark. The conclusion is still true when S is nonempty and closed.

4. If {Sn } is a sequence of nonempty compact sets with Sn+1 ⊂ Sn for every n, show that
T∞
n=1 Sn 6= ∅.
T∞
Solution. We argue by contradiction, and suppose that n=1 Sn = ∅, in other words,
¡ T∞ ¢ ¡ T∞ ¢c S∞
S1 ∩ n=2 Sn = ∅. Then it follows that S1 ⊂ n=2 Sn = n=2 Snc . Consequently,
{Snc }∞ c ∞
n=2 is an open cover of S1 . Since S1 is compact, {Sn }n=2 has a finite subcover, say,
Sm c
S1 ⊂ k=1 Snk (n1 < n2 < · · · < nm ). Since Snm ⊂ · · · ⊂ Sn1 ⊂ S1 ,
³\
m ´
Snm = S1 ∩ Snk = ∅,
k=1

which leads to a contradiction. ¤

5. In Theorem 2.12, prove as many different implications you can.

1
Solution. (i) ⇒ (iii): Let A be an infinite subset of S. Since S is bounded, Bolzano-
Weierstrass theorem implies that A has a limit point, say, z0 . Since A ⊂ S, it follows that
z0 is a limit point of S. Since S is closed, z0 ∈ S. ////
(i) ⇒ (iv): similar to the proof of (i) ⇒ (iii). ////
(ii) ⇒ (i): We claim that S is closed if it is compact. For this purpose, we show that S c is
open.
Choose a point z0 ∈ S c . For any q ∈ S, we let rq = 12 |q − z0 |. Then {N (q; rq )}q∈S is an
open cover of S, because q ∈ N (q; rq ) for all q ∈ S. Since S is compact, there exists a finite
subcover of {N (q; rq )}q∈S , namely, there exist q1 , . . . , qm ∈ S and rq1 , . . . , rqm > 0 such
that
[m
1
S⊂ N (qk ; rqk ), rqk = |qk − z0 |.
2
k=1
m
[
Let ² = min{rq1 , . . . , rqm }. Then it follows that ² > 0 and N (z0 ; ²) ∩ N (qk ; rqk ) = ∅.
k=1
Consequently N (z0 ; ²) ⊂ S c .
Since S is closed, S = S. In problem 1, we showed that S is bounded if S is. ////
(ii) ⇒ (iv): similar to the proof of Theorem 2.12. ((ii) ⇒ (iii))
(iii) ⇒ (i): If S is not bounded, we can choose a sequence {zn } such that |zn | ≥ n for all
n. Then every subsequence of {zn } diverges, which contradicts (iii). ////
Let q be a limit point of S (if S 0 6= ∅). Theorem 2.8 shows that there exists a sequence
{zn } ⊂ S such that zn → q and zn 6= q. Then {zn | n ∈ N} is infinite, and every subsequence
of {zn } converges to z0 . In other words, z0 is the only limit point of {zn | n ∈ N}. (iii)
implies that z0 ∈ S, and S is closed. ////
(iii) ⇒ (ii): similar to the proof of (iv) ⇒ (ii). Indeed, we can extract a sequence of distinct
points in an infinite set.
(iv) ⇒ (ii): Note that S is bounded (see the proof of (iii) ⇒ (i)).
We can modify the proof of Theorem 2.11: We argue by contradiction and suppose that S
is not compact. Then there exists an open cover {Oα } of S such that no finite subcover
contains S. Then we can choose a sequence {Rn } of rectangles such that
(a) Rn = [an , bn ] × [cn , dn ] (an < bn , cn < dn ),
(b) S ⊂ R1 and Rn+1 ⊂ Rn ,
(c) bn − an = (b1 − a1 )/2n−1 and dn − cn = (d1 − c1 )/2n−1 ,
(d) No finite subcollection of {Oα } covers S ∩ Rn for any n.
In particular S ∩ Rn is nonempty. Then we can choose a sequence {zn } of points such that
zn ∈ S ∩ Rn . By (iv), {zn } has a subsequence {znk } which converges to a point p ∈ S.
Then p ∈ Oα1 for some α1 . Note that S ∩ Rn shrinks to a point p. Then S ∩ Rn ⊂ Oα1 for
n sufficiently large, which yields a contradiction. ////
(iv) ⇒ (iii): Let A be an infinite subset of S. Choose a sequence {zn } of distinct points
in A. Then we can extract a subsequence which converges to z0 ∈ S. Clearly, z0 ∈ S is a
limit point of A. ////

2
Exercises 2.5 (#1, #2, #3, #10, #11, #12, #13: You may skip #4 ∼ #9)
1. Find the following limits.
z2 + 9
(a) Note that z 2 + 9 = (z + 3i)(z − 3i). Then lim = lim (z + 3i) = 6i.
z→3i z − 3i z→3i

z + z2 −2i + (2i)2 −8 + 6i
(b) lim = = .
z→2i 1 − z 1 − (−2i) 5
z+1 ³1 1´
(c) lim = lim + = 0.
z→∞ z 2 z→∞ z z2
z 2 + 10z + 2 1 + 10 2
z + z2 1
(d) lim = lim = .
z→∞ 2z 2 − 11z − 6 z→∞ 2 − 11 − 62 2
z z

2. Discuss continuity and uniform continuity for the following functions.

(a) f (z) = z 2 , |z| < 5

f is uniformly continuous, and hence continuous. (∵ Given ² > 0, we let δ = ²/10.
Then |z1 − z2 | < δ implies

|f (z1 ) − f (z2 )| = |z1 + z2 ||z1 − z2 | < δ|z1 + z2 | ≤ δ(|z1 | + |z2 |) < 10δ = ².

(b) f (z) = 1/z, |z| ≥ 1

Since g(z) = z is continuous and nonzero for |z| ≥ 1, f is continuous. Moreover f is
uniformly continuous. (∵ For any ² > 0, we let δ = ². Then |z1 − z2 | < δ implies
¯1 1 ¯¯ |z1 − z2 |
¯
|f (z1 ) − f (z2 )| = ¯ − ¯ = ≤ |z1 − z2 | < δ = ².
z1 z2 |z1 ||z2 |

1
(c) f (z) = , |z| < 1
1−z
Since g(z) = 1 − z is continuous and nonzero in |z| < 1, f is continuous. However f
is not uniformly continuous. (∵ Let xn = (n − 1)/n and yn = (2n − 1)/(2n). Then
|xn |, |yn | < 1 and |xn − yn | = 1/(2n) → 0 while |(f /g)(xn ) − (f /g)(yn )| = n → ∞.)
(
(Re z)/z, z 6= 0, |z| < 1,
(d) f (z) =
1, z = 0.
Since f (i/n) = 0 6= f (0), f is not continuous. f is not uniformly continuous.
(
|z|/z, z 6= 0, |z| ≤ 1,
(e) f (z) =
0, z = 0.
Since f (1/n) = 1 6= f (0), f is not continuous. f is not uniformly continuous.

3. If lim f (z) = a and f (z) is defined for every positive integer n, prove that lim f (n) = a.
z→∞ n→∞
Give an example to show that the converse is false.

3
 Solution. (i) Given ² > 0 there exists an M > 0 such that |f (z) − a| < ² for |z| ≥ M . In
particular, if n ≥ M then |f (n) − a| < ². ////
(ii) Counterexample. Let f (z) = sin(π|z|). Then f (n) = 0 for all n, while f (z) diverges as
|z| → ∞. ¤

4. Show that a monotonic real-valued function of a real variable cannot have uncountably many
discontinuities.
Solution. Without loss of generality, we may assume that f is monotonically increasing on
an open set A ⊂ R. For p ∈ A, we let f (p−) = lim− f (x) and f (p+) = lim+ f (x).
x→p x→p

We claim that for every p ∈ A, there holds

f (p−) ≤ f (p) ≤ f (p+).

Indeed, we note that the set B = {f (x) | x < p} is nonempty, and f (p) is an upper bound
of B. Then it follows that sup B ≤ f (p). Moreover, for every ² > 0, there exists x0 < p such
that f (x0 ) > sup B − ². Let δ = p − x0 . Then it is easily checked that |f (x) − sup B| < ²
whenever −δ < x − p < 0. Therefore f (p−) = sup B ≤ f (p).
Similarly we can prove that f (p+) = inf{f (x) | x > p} ≥ f (p). Our claim is proved.
Therefore, f is discontinuous at p ∈ A if and only if f (p−) < f (p+). In this case, we can
choose a rational number rp ∈ (f (p−), f (p+)).
Let D be the set of discontinuities of f . Define a function ϕ : D → Q by ϕ(p) = rp . Then
ϕ is well defined and one-to-one, and consequently, it is a bijection from D onto a subset
of Q. Since Q is countable, D is also (at most) countable. ¤

Remark. Let O be a subset of E. We say that O is open relative to E if O = U ∩ E for some

open set U . It is obvious that O is open if and only if O is open relative to C.
Lemma. O is open relative to E ⇔ for every p ∈ O there exists an ² > 0 such that
N (p; ²) ∩ E ⊂ O.

5. Show that f : A → B is continuous if and only if for every open set, O relative to B (see
Remark 2, p.48), f −1 (O) is an open set relative to A.
Remark. Note that f −1 (A ∩ B) = f −1 (A) ∩ f −1 (B).
Solution. (⇒) Let O = U ∩ B. For any p ∈ f −1 (O), it follows that f (p) ∈ O ⊂ U . Then
there is an ² = ²(p) > 0 such that N (f (p); ²) ⊂ U . Since f is continuous, we can choose a
δ > 0 such that |z−p| < δ implies |f (z)−f (p)| < ². Therefore, f (N (p; δ)) ⊂ N (f (p); ²) ⊂ U ,
and hence
N (p; δ) ∩ A ⊂ f −1 (U ) ∩ f −1 (B) = f −1 (U ∩ B) = f −1 (O).

(⇐) Choose any p ∈ A. Let ² > 0 be given. Note that N (f (p); ²) ∩ B is open relative to
B. By assumption, f −1 (N (f (p); ²) ∩ B) = U ∩ A for some open set U . Then there exists a
δ > 0 such that N (p; δ) ⊂ U , in other words, N (p; δ) ∩ A ⊂ U ∩ A = f −1 (N (f (p); ²) ∩ B).

4
 The last inclusion shows that |z − p| < δ (z ∈ A) implies |f (z) − f (p)| < ². ¤

6. Prove that the continuous image of a compact subset is compact.

Remark. f (f −1 (A)) ⊂ A.
Solution. Let K be a compact subset of C, and f : K → C be continuous. Let {Oα } be an
open cover of f (K). Since f is continuous, f −1 (Oα ) is open relative to K (see #5). For any
S S
α, f −1 (Oα ) = Uα ∩ K for some open set Uα . Therefore, K ⊂ α f −1 (Oα ) ⊂ α Uα . Since
{Uα } is an open cover of a compact set K, there exists finitely many indices α1 , . . . , αn
such that K ⊂ Uα1 ∪ · · · ∪ Uαn , namely,

K ⊂ (Uα1 ∩ K) ∪ · · · ∪ (Uαn ∩ K) = f −1 (Oα1 ) ∪ · · · ∪ f −1 (Oαn ) = f −1 (Oα1 ∪ · · · ∪ Oαn ).

Then
¡ ¢
f (K) ⊂ f f −1 (Oα1 ∪ · · · ∪ Oαn ) ⊂ Oα1 ∪ · · · ∪ Oαn .
Thus {Oα } has a finite subcover, and f (K) is compact. ¤

7. Show that f : A → B is continuous if and only if for every closed set F relative B, f −1 (F )
is a closed set relative to A.
Remark 1. We say F (⊂ A) is closed relative to A if F = K ∩ A for some closed set K.
Remark 2. f −1 (A ∩ B) = f −1 (A) ∩ f −1 (B) and f −1 (A ∪ B) = f −1 (A) ∪ f −1 (B). Moreover,
f −1 (Ac ) = [f −1 (A)]c .
Solution. We use #5 and the above remarks.
(⇒) For every set F closed relative to B, F = Oc ∩ B for some open set O. (Recall that A
is open ⇔ Ac is open.) Then it follows that

f −1 (F ) = f −1 (Oc ∩ B) = f −1 (Oc ) ∩ f −1 (B) = [f −1 (O)]c ∩ A = [U ∩ A]c ∩ A = U c ∩ A

for some open set U . Thus f −1 (F ) is closed relative to A.

(⇐) Let O be a set open relative to B. Then O = F c ∩ B for some closed set F . Then it
follows that

f −1 (O) = f −1 (F c ∩ B) = f −1 (F c ) ∩ f −1 (B) = [f −1 (F )]c ∩ A = [K ∩ A]c ∩ A = K c ∩ A

for some closed set K. Thus f −1 (O) is open relative to A. By #5, f is continuous. ¤

8. Prove that the continuous image of a connected set is connected.

Solution. Suppose that f (A) is not connected, i.e., there exist two disjoint open subsets U
and V such that
f (A) ⊂ U ∪ V, U ∩ f (A) 6= ∅, V ∩ f (A) 6= ∅.
Then we obtain that

A ⊂ f −1 (U ∪ V ) = f −1 (U ) ∪ f −1 (V ), A ∩ f −1 (U ) 6= ∅, A ∩ f −1 (V ) 6= ∅.

5
 Since f is continuous, f −1 (U ) = O1 ∩ A and f −1 (V ) = O2 ∩ A for some open sets O1 and
O2 . Therefore,
A ⊂ O1 ∪ O2 , A ∩ O1 6= ∅, A ∩ O2 6= ∅. (1)
On the other hand, note that U ∩ V = ∅, and hence f −1 (U ) ∩ f −1 (V ) = f −1 (U ∩ V ) = ∅.
Then, by choosing new open sets satisfying (1) if necessary, we may assume that O1 ∩O2 = ∅
(why?). Therefore A is not connected. ¤

9. If a function, defined on a compact set, is continuous, one-to-one, and onto, show that the
inverse function also has these properties. Can compactness be omitted?
Solution. (i) If A is compact and f : A → B is bijective, the inverse function g : B → A
exists and it is bijective. Moreover, the domain B = f (A) of g is compact. It remains to
show that g is continuous.
Let K ⊂ A be any set closed relative to A. Since A is compact, K = K ∩ A is compact.
Then g −1 (K) = {z ∈ B | g(z) ∈ K} = f (K) is compact, and hence closed. Then Problem
# 7 implies that g is continuous. ¤

10. Let f and g be continuous on a set A. Show that f + g, f g, and f /g (g 6= 0) are also
continuous on A. What can we say if f and g are uniformly continuous on A?
Solution. (Continuity) Show that the following limits: For any p ∈ A,
(a) lim (f (z) + g(z)) = f (p) + g(p),
z→p

(b) lim f (z)g(z) = f (p)g(p),

z→p

(c) lim (f (z)/g(z)) = f (p)/g(p).

z→p

Proof of (b): Let ² > 0 be given.n There exist twoonumbers δ1 , δ2 > 0 such that |z − p| <
²
δ1 implies |f (z) − f (p)| < min , 1 , and moreover, |z − p| < δ2 implies
2(|g(p)| + 1)
²
|g(z) − g(p)| < .
2(|f (p)| + 1)
Let δ = min{δ1 , δ2 }. Then |z − p| < δ implies |f (z)| ≤ |f (p)| + 1, and

|(f g)(z) − (f g)(p)| = |f (z)g(z) − f (z)g(p) + f (z)g(p) − f (p)g(p)|

≤ |f (z)||g(z) − g(p)| + |g(p)||f (z) − f (p)| < ²/2 + ²/2 = ².

////
(Uniform continuity) f +g is uniformly continuous. Indeed, given ² > 0, there exist δ1 , δ2 > 0
such that |x−y| < δ1 implies |f (x)−f (y)| < ²/2, and |x−y| < δ2 implies |g(x)−g(y)| < ²/2.
Thus if |x − y| < δ = min{δ1 , δ2 } then

|(f + g)(x) − (f + g)(y)| ≤ |f (x) − f (y)| + |g(x) − g(y)| < ².

However, when f and g are uniformly continuous, f g and f /g may not be uniformly
continuous. For example, if we let f (z) = z = g(z) then both f and g are uniformly
continuous, but f g is not.

6
 (∵ Let xn = n and yn = n + (1/n). Then |xn − yn | = 1/n → 0 while |(f g)(xn ) − (f g)(yn )| =
2 + (1/n2 ) ≥ 2.)
Moreover, let A = {z | |z| < 1} and f (z) = 1 and g(z) = z − 1. Then f /g is not uniformly
continuous (see #2-(c)).
Remark. If A is compact then the above three functions are uniformly continuous if both f and
g are.

11. Show that f (z) is continuous in a region R if and only if both Re f (z) and Im f (z) are
continuous in R.
Solution. For any p ∈ R, there holds

|Re f (z) − Re f (p)|, |Im f (z) − Im f (p)| ≤ |f (z) − f (p)|

≤ |Re f (z) − Re f (p)| + |Im f (z) − Im f (p)|.

(⇒) Given ² > 0 there exists a number δ > 0 such that |x − p| < δ implies |f (z) − f (p)| < ².
Therefore |Re f (z) − Re f (p)|, |Im f (z) − Im f (p)| < ² for all |x − p| < δ.
(⇐) Let ² > 0 be given. There exist δ1 , δ2 > 0 such that |Re f (z) − Re f (p)| < ²/2 for
|z − p| < δ1 , and |Im f (z) − Im f (p)| < ²/2 for |z − p| < δ2 . Let δ = min{δ1 , δ2 }. Then
|z − p| < δ implies |f (z) − f (p)| < ². ¤

12. Show that every polynomial is continuous in the complex plane.

Solution. For a constant a ∈ C, the function f and g defined by f (z) = z and g(z) = a
is continuous. Then g(z)[f (z)]k = az k is also continuous (k ∈ N). Every polynomial is a
finite sum of the continuous function of the form h(z) = ak z k (ak is a constant), and hence
continuous. ¤

13. Let f (z) be continuous in the complex plane. Let A = {z ∈ C | f (z) = 0}. Show that A is
a closed set.
Solution. Let p be a limit point of A (if A0 6= ∅). Then there exists a sequence {zn } ⊂ A
such that zn → p and zn 6= p. Since f is continuous, f (zn ) → f (p): For every ² > 0 there
exists an N such that n ≥ N implies

|f (p)| = |f (p) − f (zn )| < ².

Therefore f (p) = 0, namely, p ∈ A. ¤