R is disconnected with the subspace topology

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kent davidge
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I want to show that ##\mathbb{R}## is disconnected with the subspace topology. For this I considered that ##\mathbb{R} = \lim_{\delta n \longrightarrow 0 } (-\infty, n] \cup [n+\delta n, \infty)## and of course the intersection of these two open sets is empty.

What I'm not sure is about the usage of limit here. Is this ok? I personally think it's ok, because I'm using limit only for saying that ##\delta n > 0## but that ##n+\delta n## should be the closest possible real number of ##n##...
 
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kent davidge said:
I want to show that ##\mathbb{R}## is disconnected with the subspace topology.
Of what? Where did you find this idea? ##\mathbb{R}## is a straight line, why should it be disconnected?
For this I considered that ##\mathbb{R} = \lim_{\delta n \longrightarrow 0 } (-\infty, n] \cup [n+\delta n, \infty)## and of course the intersection of these two open sets is empty.
And doesn't cover ##\mathbb{R}##, aren't open sets, and should better be something like ##\bigcup_k[n+\frac{1}{k}, \ldots )##
What I'm not sure is about the usage of limit here. Is this ok?
No. It doesn't make sense. You need open sets.
 
fresh_42 said:
Of what? Where did you find this idea?
I mean the subspace topology obtained by the intersection of ##\mathbb{R}## with its own usual euclidean topology. Are'nt sets like those in post #1 open in such topology? And the idea I got by wondering about.
fresh_42 said:
And doesn't cover ##\mathbb{R}##
I thought it did if we consider ##n+ \delta n## as the closest neighboor of ##n##.
 
Or... to give the sets a better look than those in post #1... ##\mathbb{R} = (-\infty,n) \cup [n, \infty)##... intersection is empty...
 
kent davidge said:
I mean the subspace topology obtained by the intersection of ##\mathbb{R}## with its own usual euclidean topology. Are'nt sets like those in post #1 open in such topology? And the idea I got by wondering about.

I thought it did if we consider ##n+ \delta n## as the closest neighboor of ##n##.
I still don't get the point with the subspace. If you consider ##\mathbb{R}## as subspace of itself, why do you use the word subspace then? We can look at it as ##\mathbb{R}\subseteq \mathbb{R}^n\; , \;n\geq 1## and have a subspace topology induced by the one in ##\mathbb{R}^n##. So first we need to define the topology of ##\mathbb{R}^n##. You said the Euclidean topology, so I assume you mean the standard topology induced by the Euclidean metric. In this case, the subspace topology is also just the ordinary topology of ##\mathbb{R}## which comes from the Euclidean metric. Latest here we can forget about the embedding and subspace topologies. Now I would try to prove that ##\mathbb{R}## is connected.