Topology, Proofs, The word "Complement"

uncledub

1. The problem statement, all variables and given/known data
I have a proof to do in which they use the word "complement". I am not sure what it means by that withing the context of the question. There is no glossary to the book and there is no mention of complement before this question.


2. Relevant equations

Show that the complement of the closed interval [a,b] is an open set.

3. The attempt at a solution

I have not tried it yet because I do not know what they mean by complement. If you could point me to the right website where it talks about this or give a good definition I will then try and finish the proof from there.

uncledub

The only assumption that I have is that the complement would be (-oo, a) U (b, oo). But still I am not sure if that is what they mean in this context.

sponsoredwalk

http://books.google.ie/books?id=e54c...page&q&f=false

Read the first two pages of chapter 0 to see what complement means.

uncledub

Thank you so much.