Exercises for the lecture

MA3008 – Algebraic Topology

Solutions of Mock Exam 01 Spring Semester 2017

Exercise 1 (Metric spaces, Continuity).

a) Give the definition of a metric space.

b) Define what it means for a map f : X → Y between two metric spaces (X, dX ) and
(Y, dY ) to be continuous at x0 ∈ X.

c) Let (X, dX ) be a metric space and let R be equipped with the usual metric. Let
a ∈ X and consider the map fa : X → R given by fa (x) = dX (x, a). Show that fa is
continuous.

d) Let (X, dX ) be a metric space. Let d0 (x, y) = ln(1 + dX (x, y)) for all x, y ∈ X. Show
that this defines a new metric on X, i.e. that (X, d0 ) is also a metric space. You may
use without proof that ln is monotonically increasing.

Solution: A metric space (X, d) consists of a set X together with a function

d: X × X → R ,

which satisfies the following properties:

a) for all x, y ∈ X we have d(x, y) ≥ 0,

b) d(x, y) = 0 ⇔ x = y,

c) for all x, y ∈ X we have d(x, y) = d(y, x),

d) the triangle inequality holds: d(x, z) ≤ d(x, y) + d(y, z).

A function f : X → Y between two metric spaces (X, dX ) and (Y, dY ) is continuous at

the point x0 ∈ X if for every  > 0 there is a δ > 0, such that dX (x, x0 ) < δ implies
dY (f (x), f (x0 )) < .
Let a ∈ X and consider fa (x) = dX (x, a) as in part c). Fix y ∈ X. With Y = R and
dY (s, t) = dR (s, t) = |s − t| we have

dR (fa (x), fa (y)) = |fa (x) − fa (y)| = |dX (x, a) − dX (y, a)| .
So we need to find an estimate of the right hand side in terms of dX (x, y). By the triangle
inequality we have

dX (x, a) ≤ dX (x, y) + dX (y, a) ⇔ dX (x, a) − dX (y, a) ≤ dX (x, y) .

Switching the roles of x and y we also get: dX (y, a) − dX (x, a) ≤ dX (x, y). Hence,

|dX (x, a) − dX (y, a)| ≤ dX (x, y) .

Given  > 0 we can now choose δ =  and obtain that dX (x, y) < δ =  implies

dR (fa (x), fa (y)) = |dX (x, a) − dX (y, a)| ≤ dX (x, y) <  .

Therefore fa is continuous at y ∈ X.
For part d) we need to check that d0 satisfies the properties of a metric: First observe
that 1 + dX (x, y) ≥ 1, ln(1) = 0 and ln is monotonically increasing. Therefore we have
d0 (x, y) ≥ 0. Suppose that x, y ∈ X are two points with d0 (x, y) = 0, then

ln(1 + dX (x, y)) = 0 ⇔ 1 + dX (x, y) = 1 ⇔ dX (x, y) = 0 ⇔ x=y .

Symmetry is a direct consequence of the symmetry of dX (x, y):

d0 (x, y) = ln(1 + dX (x, y)) = ln(1 + dX (y, x)) = d0 (y, x) .

To check the triangle inequality, let x, y, z ∈ X. Then we have

d0 (x, y) + d0 (y, z)
= ln(1 + dX (x, y)) + ln(1 + dX (y, z))
= ln((1 + dX (x, y))(1 + dX (y, z)))
= ln(1 + dX (x, y) + dX (y, z) + dX (x, y)dX (y, z))
≥ ln(1 + dX (x, y) + dX (y, z))
≥ ln(1 + dX (x, z)) = d0 (x, z)

where we have used that dX (x, y)dX (y, z) ≥ 0 in the second to last row and the fact that
ln is monotonically increasing together with the triangle inequality for dX in the last one.
Exercise 2 (Basis of a topology).

a) Give the definition of a basis B of a topology T .

b) Let X be a set. State the properties that need to hold in order for a family B of subsets
of X to be a basis of a topology TB .

c) Let X = R and consider the family B of all one-point subsets, i.e.

B = {{x} | x ∈ R} .

Show that this is the basis of a topology on X.

d) Let X = R and let B be as in c). Let X be equipped with the topology TB obtained
from the basis B. Let Y = R be equipped with the metric topology T (d) with respect
to the metric d(x, y) = |x − y|. Prove that the map f : X → Y given by f (x) = x is
continuous.

e) Let (X, TB ), (Y, T (d)) be the topological spaces from d) and let f : X → Y be the
continuous map from d). Show that it is bijective, but not a homeomorphism.

Solution A family B of subsets of a topological space (X, T ) is a basis of the topology T

if every set U ∈ T is a union of sets from B.
Let X be a set and let B be a family of subsets of X. Let

TB = {U ⊂ X | for all x ∈ U there exists B ∈ B such that x ∈ B ⊂ U } .

Then TB is a topology with basis B if and only if B has the following two properties:

a) For each x ∈ X there exists a B ∈ B with x ∈ B.

b) If B1 , B2 ∈ B and x ∈ B1 ∩ B2 then there exists a B3 ∈ B with x ∈ B3 ⊂ B1 ∩ B2 .

Now let B = {{x} | x ∈ R} as in part c) of the Exercise. To see that this family is the
basis of a topology TB on X, we need to check that it has the properties a) and b) above.
For x ∈ X we can take B = {x} and we have x ∈ {x} = B, which is property a). Now
let B1 , B2 ∈ B, such that there is x ∈ B1 ∩ B2 . Using the definition of B there must be
x1 , x2 ∈ X, such that B1 = {x1 } and B2 = {x2 }. Therefore B1 ∩ B2 is either empty or
x1 = x2 , in which case B1 ∩ B2 = {x1 } = {x2 }. Since we know that x ∈ B1 ∩ B2 , it can
not be empty and we must have x = x1 = x2 . Choose B3 = {x}. Then we have

x ∈ B3 ⊂ B1 ∩ B2 ,
which is property b). Hence, B is in fact the basis of a topology TB defined as above. Some
further thought shows that TB is the discrete topology on R.
Let X = R be equipped with the topology TB . Let Y = R be equipped with the topology
T (d) from the metric d(x, y) = |x − y| and consider the map f : X → Y with f (x) = x.
On the underlying sets this is just the identity map. However, we have chosen different
topologies on X and on Y . Therefore it is not obvious that f is continuous. To see that it
is, it suffices to check that f −1 (Br (x0 )) ⊂ X is open for every r > 0 and x0 ∈ X, since the
sets Br (x0 ) form a basis for the metric topology T (d). Note that f −1 (Br (x0 )) = Br (x0 ).
According to the definition of TB we have to check that we can find for every x ∈ Br (x0 ) a
basis element B ∈ B, such that x ∈ B ⊂ Br (x0 ). To achieve this we can choose B = {x}.
To see that f : X → Y is bijective, we can write down the inverse map, which is given by
g : Y → X with g(x) = x. On the underlying sets it is (and has to be!) the identity map
again. However, g is not continuous: In fact, g −1 ({x}) = {x} and {x} ∈ B ⊂ TB is open
in (X, TB ), whereas it is not open in (Y, T (d)), since every non-empty open subset in Y
has to contain an open interval (a, b) for some a, b ∈ R with a < b.
Exercise 3 (Subspace topology, Convergence of sequences).

a) Let (X, TX ) be a topological space and let Y ⊂ X be a subset. Show that the family
of subsets given by

TY ⊂X = {U ⊂ Y | U = V ∩ Y for some V ∈ TX }

is a topology on Y . (This is the subspace topology.)

b) Let X = R be equipped with the metric topology from the metric d(x, y) = |x − y|.
Let  
1
Y = x ∈ R | x = , n ∈ N ∪ {0} ⊂ R
n
be equipped with the subspace topology. Sketch a picture of this topological space.

c) Let X and Y be the topological spaces from b). Let U ⊂ Y be an open subset with
0 ∈ U . Show that there is x ∈ U with x 6= 0. Deduce that the subspace topology
TY ⊂X on Y is not the same as the discrete topology Tdis on Y .

d) Let (Z, TZ ) be another topological space, let Y be as in c) and let f : Y → Z be

a continuous map. Define an = f ( n1 ) for n ∈ N. Show that the sequence (an )n∈N
converges to a = f (0) in Z.

Solution We have Y = X ∩ Y and X ∈ TX , which implies Y ∈ TY ⊂X . Likewise,

∅ = ∅ ∩ Y and therefore ∅ ∈ TY ⊂X .
Suppose that U1 , U2 ∈ TY ⊂X . This means that there are sets V1 , V2 ∈ TX , such that
Ui = Vi ∩ Y for i ∈ {1, 2}. Since TX is a topology on X, we have V1 ∩ V2 ∈ TX and
U1 ∩ U2 = (V1 ∩ Y ) ∩ (V2 ∩ Y ) = (V1 ∩ V2 ) ∩ Y .
Let I be a set and let Ui ∈ TY ⊂X for i ∈ I. By the definition of TY ⊂X this means that for
every i ∈ I there is Vi ∈ TX , such that Ui = Vi ∩ Y . Since TX is a topology on X, we have
S
i∈I Vi ∈ TX . Now note that
!
[ [ [
Ui = (Vi ∩ Y ) = Vi ∩ Y .
i∈I i∈I i∈I

This proves that TY ⊂X is a topology on Y .

A sketch of the topological space Y from b) is shown below:

0 1
Let U ⊂ Y be an open subset with 0 ∈ U as in part c) of the exercise. Since U is open in
the subspace topology, there is an open subset V ⊂ R with U = V ∩ Y . Since 0 ∈ V and
V is open with respect to the metric d, we can find an  > 0 such that (−, ) ⊂ V . Since
the sequence an = n1 converges to 0 for n → ∞, there is N ∈ N, such that the open set V
will contain all elements am for m > N . In particular, there will be at least one am ∈ V .
1 1 1
Since m ∈ Y , we have m ∈ V ∩ Y = U . But m 6= 0, hence we have solved the first part of
c). Our observations show that the subset {0} ⊂ Y is not open. However, in the discrete
topology Tdis all subsets of Y are open. Therefore TY ⊂X 6= Tdis .
Let f : Y → Z be a continuous map as in d). Let an = f ( n1 ) ∈ Z and a = f (0) ∈ Z. Let
U 0 ⊂ Z be a neighbourhood of a. This means that it contains an open subset U ⊂ Z with
U ⊂ U 0 and a ∈ U . Since f is continuous, we obtain that f −1 (U ) is open in Y . Note
that 0 ∈ f −1 (U ). Just as in the last paragraph we have that there is an N ∈ N, such that
1 −1 (U ) for all m > N . But this means that a = f ( 1 ) ∈ U ⊂ U 0 for all m > N .
m ∈ f m m
Hence, (an )n∈N converges to a in Z.
Exercise 4 (Quotient topology).

a) Let (X, T ) be a topological space and let ∼ be an equivalence relation on X. Give

the definition of the quotient topology on X/∼.

b) Let X = R be equipped with the metric topology T (d) with respect to d(x, y) =
|x − y|. Let ∼ be the relation defined by

x1 ∼ x2 ⇔ x1 − x2 ∈ Z .

Show that this is an equivalence relation.

c) Let [0, 1) ⊂ R be equipped with the subspace topology and let X and ∼ be as in b).
Prove that the map f : [0, 1) → X/∼ given by f (x) = [x] is continuous and bijective,
but not a homeomorphism.

Solution Let (X, TX ) be a topological space and let ∼ be an equivalence relation on X.

Let q : X → X/∼ be given by q(x) = [x]. The quotient topology TX/∼ on X/∼ is defined
as follows:
TX/∼ = U ⊂ X/∼ | q −1 (U ) ∈ TX .


To check that the relation ∼ from part b) is an equivalence relation note the following:

• x − x = 0 ∈ Z implies x ∼ x, which is the reflexivity of ∼.

• If we have x1 ∼ x2 , then x1 − x2 ∈ Z. But this means that x2 − x1 = −(x1 − x2 ) ∈ Z

and therefore x2 ∼ x1 . This is the symmetry of ∼.

• If x1 ∼ x2 and x2 ∼ x3 , then we have x1 − x3 = (x1 − x2 ) + (x2 − x3 ) ∈ Z, which

implies x1 ∼ x3 . Therefore ∼ is also transitive.

Let f : [0, 1) → X/∼ = R/∼ be the map from c). Since [0, 1) carries the subspace topology,
the inclusion map fˆ: [0, 1) → R is continuous. Let q : R → R/∼ be the quotient map and
note that f = q ◦ fˆ. Since f is the composition of two continuous maps, it is continuous.
Let x, y ∈ [0, 1) with f (x) = f (y). This means [x] = [y], more precisely:

[x] = {x + k | k ∈ Z} = {y + ` | ` ∈ Z} = [y] .

In particular, there has to be ` ∈ Z, such that x = y + `. In other words, we have

x − y ∈ Z. But since x, y ∈ [0, 1), the difference x − y is in the open interval (−1, 1).
Since (−1, 1) ∩ Z = {0}, we have x = y and f is injective. Let [x] ∈ R/ ∼. Then
x0 = x − bxc ∈ [0, 1) and [x] = [x0 ]. Moreover, f (x0 ) = [x]. This proves that f is also
surjective and hence bijective.
To see that f is not a homeomorphism, we need to find an open subset U ⊂ [0, 1), such
that f (U ) is not open in R/∼. Let U = [0, 14 ). This is open in [0, 1). Observe that
     
−1 3 1 5
q (f (U )) = · · · ∪ −1, − ∪ 0, ∪ 1, ∪ ...
4 4 4

This is not open in R. In fact, if it were, then there would be an interval of the form
(−, ) for some  > 0 in q −1 (f (U )), since 0 ∈ q −1 (f (U )). However, this is not the case.
By the definition of the quotient topology, this means that f (U ) can not be open in R/∼.