Proving X - E° = X - E closure in Willard

Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
2 replies · 2K views
Math Amateur
Gold Member
MHB
Messages
3,920
Reaction score
48
TL;DR
I need help in order to prove a result stated by Willard linking the notions of interior and closure in a topological space ...
I am reading Stephen Willard: General Topology ... ... and am currently focused on Chapter 2: Topological Spaces and am currently focused on Section 3: Fundamental Concepts ... ...

I need help in order to fully understand a result or formula given by Willard concerning a link between closure and interior in a topological space ... ..The relevant text reads as follows:
Willard - Defn 3.9 plus remarks ... .png

In the above text by Willard we read the following:

" ... ... The strictly formal nature of this duality can be brought out in observing that

##X - E^{ \circ } = \overline{ X - E }## ... ... "Can someone please demonstrate (formally and rigorously) that ... given the definitions and results regarding closure and interior used by Willard ... ##X - E^{ \circ } = \overline{ X - E }## ... ...The definitions and results regarding closure used by Willard are as follows:
Willard - Defn 3.5, Lemma 3..6 and Theorem 3.7 .png


Help will be much appreciated ... ...

Peter
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Let's follow the definitions:
We have ##p\in X-E^\circ## if and only if every open set containing ##p## intersects ##X-E## nontrivially if and only if ##p## is in the closure of ##X-E.##

The first biconditional is just the negation of your definition of interior. The second is the following fact: Let ##X## be a topological space and let ##E\subset X##. Then ##p\in \overline{E}## if and only if every neighborhood of ##p## intersects ##E## nontrivially. Is this fact okay, or do you also want an argument here?

Edit: A little more direct argument using your definitions is:

##X-E^\circ=X-\bigcup_{G\subset E \ \text{open}} G=\bigcap_{G\subset E \text{ open}} (X-G)=\bigcap_{F\supset X-E \text{ closed}}F=\overline{X-E}.##
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: member 587159 and Math Amateur
Thanks so much Infrared ...

Working through your post just now ...

Very much appreciate your help ...

Peter
 
Last edited: