Solutions to Chapter 7 exercises
7.1 (a) Any topology on {0, 1} has to contain and {0, 1}. It may contain either, neither or both of {0} and {1}, and each of these gives a topology. So there are four distinct
topologies on X = {0, 1}, namely T1 = {X, }, T2 = {X, , {0}, }, T3 = {X, , {1}} and
T4 = {X, , {0}, {1}}.
(b) The combinatorics of the situation rapidly increase in complexity with the number of points
in X . If X = {0, 1, 2} then again any topology on X must contain X and , but there are
now many topologies (29 in fact). One way to keep track of them is to list them by the number
of singleton sets in them.
If there is no singleton set in the topology, the topology must have at most one set of order 2 in it
(for if say {0, 1} and {0, 2} are in the topology, then by the intersection property (T2) so is the
singleton {0}): we get four topologies {, X}, {, {0, 1}, X}, {, {0, 2}, X}, {, {1, 2}, X}.
If there is just one singleton in the topology, and if it is {0}, then there are five possible topologies:
these are are {, {0}, X}, {, {0}, {0, 1}, X}, {, {0}, {0, 2}, X}, {, {0}, {1, 2}, X} and
{, {0}, {0, 1}, {0, 2}, X}. There are five analogous topologies in which the only singleton is
{1} and another five in which the only singleton is {2}.
Next we list the topologies with precisely two singletons. There are those with just one set of order
2 and those with precisely two sets of order 2. For example if the two singletons are {0}, {1}
then we get just one topology with precisely one set of order 2: {, {0}, {1}, {0, 1}, X}. We
get two topologies with these same two singletons and precisely two sets of order 2: these are
{, {0}, {1}, {0, 1}, {0, 2}, X}, and {, {0}, {1}, {0, 1}, {1, 2}, X}. Now we also get three
analogous topologies in which the singletons are {0}, {2} and another three in which they are
{1}, {2}.
Finally, if the topology has all three possible singletons, it must be the discrete topology (all
subsets of X in the topology). Altogether this gives 29 distinct topologies.
7.2 From 7.1(a) we see that on the set X = {0, 1} the topologies T2 = {, {0}, X} and
T3 = {, {1}, X} have this property.
7.3 Suppose that T1 , T2 are topologies on a set X . Then so is T1 T2 . For
(T1) , X T1 and , X T2 so , X T1 T2 .
(T2) If U, V T1 T2 , then U, V T1 and T1 is a topology so U V T1 . Similarly U V T2 ,
so U V T1 T2 .
(T3) If Ui T1 T2 for all i in some indexing set I , then for all i I , Ui T1 , so
since T1 is a topology. Similarly
Ui T2 , so
Ui T1 T2 .
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Ui T1
The union of the topologies {, {0}, {0, 1}} and {, {1}, {0, 1}} is the discrete topology on
{0, 1}. But the union of the topologies {, {0}, X} and {, {1}, X} on X = {0, 1, 2} is
{, {0}, {1}, X}, not a topology on X since the union of the sets {0}, {1} is not in it.
We see that the argument above for two topologies works exactly the same way for the intersection
of any family of topologies.
7.4 (T1) is satisfied, by the definition of open set here.
(T2) Suppose U, V are open. If one of them is then U V = and if one of U, V is N
then their intersection is the other, so we may assume that U = {1, 2, 3 . . . , n1 } and that
V = {1, 2, 3 . . . , n2 } for some positive integers n1 , n2 . Then U V = {1, 2, 3 . . . , n} where
n = min{n1 , n2 }, so U V is open.
Ui = N.
(T3) Suppose Ui is open for all i in some indexing set I . If Ui = N for any i I then
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Ui = . Otherwise we ignore any empty set in the union, so we
If Ui = for all i I then
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may assume Ui = {1, 2, 3, . . . , ni } for some positive integer ni . We now distinguish two cases:
Ui = N, for if n is any
Case (1) The set S = {ni : i I} is not bounded above. Then
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integer, there exists i0 I with n ni0 so n Ui0
Ui . Hence
Ui is open.
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Case (2) The set S is bounded above. In this case let n = sup S . Then since S is a set of
Ui = Ui0 . Hence
Ui is open.
integers we have n = ni0 for some i0 I , and
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This completes the proof that (T3) holds.
7.5 Let T be defined as in Example 7.9 on a set X .
(T1) By definition, T . Also, since X \ X = is finite, X T .
(T2) Suppose that U, V T . If either is empty, so is U V and U V T . Otherwise X \ U
and X \ V are both finite, hence so is X \ (U V ) = (X \ U) (X \ V ), so U V T .
(T3) Suppose that Ui T for all i in some indexing set I . If all the Ui are empty, so is
Ui and hence it is in T . Otherwise some Ui0 is non-empty, so X \ Ui0 is finite. Then
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Ui X \ Ui0 is also finite, and
Ui T .
X\
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7.6 This is similar to Exercise 7.4.
(T1) Both and R are in T by definition.
(T2) Suppose that U, V T . If either U or V is empty, so is U V hence it is in T . If
either of U, V is R then their intersection is the other, which is in T . So we may assume
U = (, b1 ), V = (, b2 ), so U V = (, b) where b = min{b1 , b2 }, and this tells us
that U V T .
(T3) Suppose that Ui T for all i in some indexing set I . If any Ui0 = R then
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Ui = R T .
Otherwise, ignoring any empty sets since they do not contribute to the union, we may assume
that for any i I we have Ui = (, bi ) for some bi R. We distinguish two cases.
Ui = R, for given any x R there
Case (1) The set B = {bi : i I} is unbounded. Then
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Ui .
exists i0 I with x bi0 , so x (, bi0 ) hence x
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Case(2) The set B is bounded above. In this case
Ui = (, b) where b = sup B . First, any
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x
Ui is in (, bi ) for some i I , and bi B so bi b and x (, bi ) (, b).
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Ui .
Conversely, if x (, b) then x < b so x < bi0 for some i0 I , and x (, bi0 )
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