Topological Examples Notebook

STANDARD TOPOLOGY ON ℝ

In mathematics, the real line is the line whose points

correspond to the real numbers. That is, the real line is
the set R of all real numbers, viewed as a geometric
space. It is the Euclidean space of dimension one, and
can be thought of as a vector space (or affine space), a
metric space, a topological space, or simply as a linear
continuum.

Just like the set of real numbers, the real line is usually
denoted by the symbol R (or alternatively, , the letter
“R” in blackboard bold). However, it is sometimes
denoted R1 in order to emphasize its role as the first
Euclidean space.

The real line carries a standard topology which can be

introduced in two different, equivalent ways. First, since
the real numbers are totally ordered, they carry an
order topology. With respect to this topology, the real
line is a linear continuum. Second, the real numbers can
be turned into a metric space by using the metric given
by the absolute value
Topological Examples Notebook

This metric induces a topology on R equivalent to the

order topology.

The real line is trivially a topological manifold of

dimension 1. It is paracompact and second-countable as
well as contractible and locally compact. It also has a
standard differentiable structure on it, making it a
differentiable manifold. (Up to diffeomorphism, there is
only one differentiable structure that the topological
space supports.) Indeed, R was historically the first
example to be studied of each of these mathematical
structures, so that it serves as the inspiration for these
branches of modern mathematics. (Many of the terms
above can't even be defined until R is already in place.)

As a vector space, the real line is a vector space over the

field R of real numbers (that is, over itself) of dimension
1. It has a standard inner product, making it a Euclidean
space. (The inner product is simply ordinary
multiplication of real numbers.) As a vector space, it is
not very interesting, and thus it was in fact 2-
dimensional Euclidean space that was first studied as a
vector space. However, we can still say that R inspired
the field of linear algebra, since vector spaces were first
studied over R.
Topological Examples Notebook

R is also a premier example of a ring, even a field. It is in

fact a real complete field, and was the first such field to
be studied, so that it inspired that branch of abstract
algebra as well. However, in such purely algebraic
contexts, R is rarely called a "line".
 Topological Examples Notebook

TRIVIAL TOPOLOGY

In topology, a topological space with the trivial

topology is one where the only open sets are the empty
set and the entire space. Such a space is sometimes
called an indiscrete space, and its topology sometimes
called an indiscrete topology. Intuitively, this has the
consequence that all points of the space are "lumped
together" and cannot be distinguished by topological
means; it belongs to a pseudometric space in which the
distance between any two points is zero.

The trivial topology is the topology with the least

possible number of open sets, since the definition of a
topology requires these two sets to be open. Despite its
simplicity, a space X with more than one element and
the trivial topology lacks a key desirable property: it is
not a T0 space.

Other properties of an indiscrete space X—many of

which are quite unusual—include:

 The only closed sets are the empty set and X.

 The only possible basis of X is {X}.
 If X has more than one point, then since it is not T0, it
does not satisfy any of the higher T axioms either. In
particular, it is not a Hausdorff space. Not being
 Topological Examples Notebook

Hausdorff, X is not an order topology, nor is it

metrizable.
 X is, however, regular, completely regular, normal, and
completely normal; all in a rather vacuous way though,
since the only closed sets are ∅ and X.
 X is compact and therefore paracompact, Lindelöf, and
locally compact.
 Every function whose domain is a topological space and
codomain X is continuous.
 X is path-connected and so connected.
 X is second-countable, and therefore is first-countable,
separable and Lindelöf.
 All subspaces of X have the trivial topology.
 All quotient spaces of X have the trivial topology
 Arbitrary products of trivial topological spaces, with
either the product topology or box topology, have the
trivial topology.
 All sequences in X converge to every point of X. In
particular, every sequence has a convergent
subsequence (the whole sequence), thus X is
sequentially compact.
 The interior of every set except X is empty.
 The closure of every non-empty subset of X is X. Put
another way: every non-empty subset of X is dense, a
property that characterizes trivial topological spaces.
 If S is any subset of X with more than one element, then
all elements of X are limit points of S. If S is a singleton,
then every point of X \ S is still a limit point of S.
 X is a Baire space.
 Topological Examples Notebook

 Two topological spaces carrying the trivial topology are

homeomorphic iff they have the same cardinality.

In some sense the opposite of the trivial topology is the

discrete topology, in which every subset is open.

The trivial topology belongs to a uniform space in which

the whole Cartesian product X × X is the only entourage.
Topological Examples Notebook

DISCRETE TOPOLOGY

Given a set X:

the discrete topology on X is defined by letting every

subset of X be open, and X is a discrete topological
space if it is equipped with its discrete topology;
the discrete uniformity on X is defined by letting every
superset of the diagonal {(x,x) : x is in X} in X × X be an
entourage, and X is a discrete uniform space if it is
equipped with its discrete uniformity.
the discrete metric ρ on X is defined by

for any . In this case (X,ρ) is called a discrete

metric space or a space of isolated points.

A metric space (E,d) is said to be uniformly discrete if

there exists r > 0 such that, for any , one has
either x = y or d(x,y) > r. The topology underlying a
metric space can be discrete, without the metric being
uniformly discrete: for example the usual metric on the
set {1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, ...} of real numbers.
Topological Examples Notebook

The underlying uniformity on a discrete metric space is

the discrete uniformity, and the underlying topology on
a discrete uniform space is the discrete topology. Thus,
the different notions of discrete space are compatible
with one another. On the other hand, the underlying
topology of a non-discrete uniform or metric space can
be discrete; an example is the metric space X := {1/n :
n = 1,2,3,...} (with metric inherited from the real line
and given by d(x,y) = |x − y|). Obviously, this is not the
discrete metric; also, this space is not complete and
hence not discrete as a uniform space. Nevertheless, it
is discrete as a topological space. We say that X is
topologically discrete but not uniformly discrete or
metrically discrete.

Additionally:

 The topological dimension of a discrete space is

equal to 0.
 A topological space is discrete if and only if its
singletons are open, which is the case if and only if
it doesn't contain any accumulation points.
 The singletons form a basis for the discrete
topology.
 A uniform space X is discrete if and only if the
diagonal {(x,x) : x is in X} is an entourage.
Topological Examples Notebook

 Every discrete topological space satisfies each of the

separation axioms; in particular, every discrete
space is Hausdorff, that is, separated.
 A discrete space is compact if and only if it is finite.
 Every discrete uniform or metric space is complete.
 Combining the above two facts, every discrete
uniform or metric space is totally bounded if and
only if it is finite.
 Every discrete metric space is bounded.
 Every discrete space is first-countable, and a
discrete space is second-countable if and only if it is
countable.
 Every discrete space with at least two points is
totally disconnected.
 Every non-empty discrete space is second category.
 Any two discrete spaces with the same cardinality
are homeomorphic.
 A finite space is metrizable if it is discrete
 If X is a topological space and Y is a set carrying the
discrete topology, then X is evenly covered by X X Y
(the projection map is the desired covering)

Any function from a discrete topological space to

another topological space is continuous, and any
function from a discrete uniform space to another
uniform space is uniformly continuous. That is, the
discrete space X is free on the set X in the category of
Topological Examples Notebook

topological spaces and continuous maps or in the

category of uniform spaces and uniformly continuous
maps. These facts are examples of a much broader
phenomenon, in which discrete structures are usually
free on sets.