Metric Spaces - Distance Between sets and it's closures

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around proving a relationship between the distances of sets and their closures in the context of metric spaces. The original poster attempts to establish that the distance between two sets A and B is equal to the distance between their closures, using specific lemmas related to the definition of distance in metric spaces.

Discussion Character

  • Conceptual clarification, Mathematical reasoning, Assumption checking

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • The original poster presents two lemmas to support their proof but expresses uncertainty about the validity of the second lemma, which is not found in their textbook. They question how to prove the inequality involving the distance to the closure of a set.
  • One participant suggests assuming a contradiction to explore the implications of the original poster's inequality, prompting further investigation into the properties of sequences in the closure of a set.
  • Another participant builds on this by demonstrating how to derive a contradiction from the assumption, using the properties of distances and elements in the closure.

Discussion Status

The discussion is active, with participants engaging in a back-and-forth exploration of the proof. Some guidance has been provided through the suggestion of a contradiction approach, and a participant has successfully identified a contradiction based on the original poster's assumptions. However, there is no explicit consensus on the proof's completeness or correctness.

Contextual Notes

The original poster notes that they have a theorem supporting their claim when the distance is zero, but they are struggling with cases where the distance is greater than zero. This indicates a potential gap in their understanding that is being explored in the discussion.

SqueeSpleen
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I was trying to prove:
[itex]d(A,B) = d( \overline{A}, \overline{B} )[/itex]
I "proved" it using the following lemmas:
Lemma 1:
[itex]d(A,B) = \inf \{ d(x,B) \}_{x \in A} = \inf \{ d(A,y) \}_{y \in B}[/itex]
(By definition we have: [itex]d(A,B) = \inf \{ d(x,y) \}_{x \in A, y \in B}[/itex] )
Lemma 2:
[itex]d(x_{0},A) = d(x_{0}, \overline{A})[/itex]

Proof body:
[itex]d(A,B) \underbrace{=}_{L1} \inf \{ d(x,B) \}_{x \in A} \underbrace{=}_{L2} \inf \{ d(x, \overline{B}) \}_{x \in A} \underbrace{=}_{L1} \inf \{ d(A,y) \}_{y \in \overline{B}} \underbrace{=}_{L2} \inf \{ d(\overline{A},y) \}_{y \in \overline{B}} \underbrace{=}_{L1} d(\overline{A}, \overline{B})[/itex]

The problem is that... I have the first lemma proved in the textbook, but the second lemma isn't in it and I couldn't prove it (That's why I said "proved" instead of proved).
I know that [itex]d( x , \overline{B} ) \leq d(x,B)[/itex] almost trivially because by definition is the infimum of a set and the infimum of a subset must be equal or higher.
But all the things I though are useful to prove [itex]d( x , \overline{B} ) \leq d(x,B)[/itex] not [itex]d( x , \overline{B} ) \geq d(x,B)[/itex].
If [itex]d(x,B) = 0[/itex] I know it's true because of a theorem that implies it.
But if [itex]d(x,B) > 0[/itex] I can't prove [itex]d( x , \overline{B} ) \geq d(x,B)[/itex]
 
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Assume by contradiction that ##d(x,\overline{B})<d(x,B)##.

Take a sequence ##(x_n)_n## such that each ##x_n\in \overline{B}## and such that ##d(x,x_n)\rightarrow d(x,\overline{B})##. Then there is some ##n## such that

[tex]d(x,x_n)<d(x,B)[/tex]

Now try to find a contradiction. What is ##d(x_n,B)##?
 
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If [itex]x_{n} \in \overline{B}[/itex] then for every [itex]\varepsilon > 0[/itex], in particular for every [itex]\varepsilon \in (0,d(x,B)-d(x,x_{n}))[/itex] there exists a [itex]y \in B[/itex] such that [itex]d(x_{n},y) < \varepsilon[/itex]
Then [itex]d(x,y) \leq d(x,x_{n})+d(x_{n},y) < d(x,B)[/itex]
But [itex]y \in B[/itex], so [itex]d(x,B) \leq d(x,y)[/itex] and we have [itex]d(x,B) < d(x,B)[/itex] which is a contradiction.

Thank you very much micromass.
 
Well done!
 

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