Uniform continuity, bounded subsets

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Homework Help Overview

The problem involves showing that if a function f from a bounded subset S to Rn is uniformly continuous, then the image f(S) is also bounded. The discussion centers around the definitions of uniform continuity and boundedness in the context of mathematical analysis.

Discussion Character

  • Conceptual clarification, Mathematical reasoning

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • The original poster attempts to articulate their understanding of the proof conceptually but struggles with the mathematical notation. They discuss dividing the bounded set into segments and using uniform continuity to argue about the boundedness of the image.
  • Some participants question the terminology used, suggesting that a cover is more appropriate than a partition in this context.
  • There is a query about the notation N_e, which leads to clarification regarding the epsilon neighborhood.

Discussion Status

Contextual Notes

There is a noted confusion regarding the terminology of partitions versus covers, which may impact the understanding of the proof structure. The original poster is also seeking assistance in translating their conceptual understanding into formal mathematical language.

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Homework Statement



Show that if f: S -> Rn is uniformly continuous and S is bounded, then f(S) is bounded.

Homework Equations



Uniformly continuous on S: for every e>0 there exists d>0 s.t. for every x,y in S, |x-y| < d implies |f(x) - f(y)| < e

bounded: a set S in Rn is bounded if it is contained in some ball about the origin. That is, there is a constant C s.t. |x|<C for every x in S.

The Attempt at a Solution



I understand the idea of the proof pretty well but I cannot write the correct mathematical interpretation of it down.

Basically, S is bounded, so it can be divided into segments (TA called them partitions which is confusing since S is in Rn not R).
Each segment can be made smaller than d. Then, by uniform continuity we know that f(segment) is smaller than e (bounded) so we can draw a ball around it.
Since there is a finite number of segments, there are a finite number of balls f(segment). Hence, we can draw a bigger ball around all of them, and thus f(S) is bounded.

How do I put this into math symbols?

Thanks for your help =)
 
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The thing you want here is a cover, and not a partition.

Can you show that:
N_{\epsilon}(f(x)) \supset f(N_{\delta}(x))
and that
S \subset \bigcup_{\rm{finite}} N_{\delta}(x_i)

As a note: When you're applying a function to each of a set of objects, it's typical to refer to the result as the image of applying the function to that set. Something like:
N_{\epsilon}(f(x)) \supset Im_f(N_{\delta}(x))
might be better notation, because errors can occur when sets are treated like single-valued objects.
 
Last edited:
What's N_e?
 
The epsilon neighborhood of something. It's the same idea as, say:
B(\epsilon,x)
The ball of radius \epsilon around x.

I probably didn't make the best choices in notation there -- my apologies.
 

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