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Problem Sheet 2 (For Tutorials in Week 4)

The document contains 7 problems about concepts like modulus, suprema, infima, countability, and properties of real numbers. The problems cover topics like finding the set of pairs satisfying certain conditions, proving statements about boundedness, and showing properties of rational and irrational numbers.

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Loh Jun Xian
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
33 views

Problem Sheet 2 (For Tutorials in Week 4)

The document contains 7 problems about concepts like modulus, suprema, infima, countability, and properties of real numbers. The problems cover topics like finding the set of pairs satisfying certain conditions, proving statements about boundedness, and showing properties of rational and irrational numbers.

Uploaded by

Loh Jun Xian
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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MT 2019

ANALYSIS I: Problem sheet 2


Modulus (continued), Suprema, Infima, Countability

1. For each of the following conditions, find and sketch the set of all pairs (x, y) ∈ R2
satisfying the condition:
(a) |x| + |y| = 1; (b) |x − y| + |x + y| = 1; (c) max (|x|, |y|) = 1.

2. A student claims erroneously that


1 1
6 if a + b 6= 0.
|a + b| |a| + |b|
Find an example to show that this is false in general. How might the student have
come to make the error? Find an argument based on the Reverse Triangle Law which
gives a valid upper bound for 1/|a + b| in terms of |a| and |b|.
3. Prove that the subset { 2n | n ∈ N } of R is not bounded above. [You should not
make any use of logarithms.]
4. For each of the following sets, decide which of the following exist: (i) supremum;
(ii) infimum; (iii) maximum; (iv) minimum.
√
(a) Q ∩ [0, 2];
(b) { (−1)n + 1/n | n = 1, 2, . . . };
(c) { 3n | n ∈ Z };
S 1 1

(d) ∞ n=1 2n , 2n−1 .

In each case, either write down the value (without proof) or indicate why it is not
defined.
5. Let S, T be non-empty subsets of R.

(a) Assume that S and T are bounded above. Prove that S ∪ T is bounded above
and that sup(S ∪ T ) = max(sup S, sup T ).
(b) Assume that S and T are bounded below. Prove that the set
S + T := { s + t | s ∈ S, t ∈ T }
is bounded below and that inf(S + T ) = inf S + inf T .

6. Prove that there exists a√unique real number a such that a3 = 2. [Hint: adapt the
proof of the existence of 2 from lectures.]
7. (a) Prove that there are uncountably many irrational numbers.
(b) Let a, b be real numbers with a < b. Show that there is a natural number n
such that n1 < b − a. Deduce that there is a rational number in the interval
(a, b).
(c) Show further that between any two real numbers there is an irrational number.

turn over/. . .

1
8. [Optional] A complex number is said to be algebraic if it is the root of a polynomial
with integer coefficients and otherwise is said to be transcendental.

(a) Show that there are only countably many cubic polynomials with integer coef-
ficients.
(b) Show that there are only countably many complex numbers which are roots of
some integer-coefficient cubic polynomial.
(c) Show further that there are only countably many algebraic numbers but un-
countably many transcendental numbers.

Points to ponder

A. Thinking of the points of R as lying on an ordered ‘number line’, is it correct, on the


basis of the results in Q. 6(b), (c), to argue that rationals and irrationals alternate
along the line?

B. Every irrational number is the supremum of the set of rational numbers strictly below
it. Why?

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