Math 490 Midterm 1

Problem 1. Let X = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}. For each of the following families of subsets
of X decide whether or not this family is a topology on X.
(1) T1 = {∅, X, {1, 3}}.
(2) T2 = {∅, X, {1, 3}, {2}}.
(3) T3 = {∅, X, {1, 3}, {2, 3, 4, 5}}.
(4) T4 = {∅, X, {1, 3}, {2, 4, 5}}.
Solution.
(1) Yes, T1 is a topology on X.
(2) No, T2 is not a topology on X. Indeed, {1, 3}, {2} ∈ T2 but {1, 3} ∪ {2} =
{1, 2, 3} 6∈ T2 .
(3) No, T3 is not a topology on X. Indeed, {1, 3}, {2, 3, 4, 5} ∈ T3 but {1, 3} ∩
{2, 3, 4, 5} = {3} 6∈ T3 .
(4) Yes, T4 is a topology on X.

Problem 2. Let X be a nonemty set and let B 0 be a family of subsets of X

such that ∪B∈B0 B = X.
Put
B = {B1 ∩ · · · ∩ Bn |n ≥ 1 is an integer, and Bi ∈ B 0 for i = 1, . . . , n}.
Prove that there exists a topology T on X such that B is a basis for T .
Solution. We need to verify that B is a topological basis for X. First note that,
by using n = 1, we see that B 0 ⊆ B, that is for every B ∈ B 0 we have B ∈ B.
Since by assumption ∪B∈B0 = X, it then follows that ∪B∈B = X.
Now suppose that D1 , D2 ∈ B and x ∈ X are such that x ∈ D1 ∩ D2 .
By definition of B, there exist m > n ≥ 1 and
B1 , . . . , Bn , Bn+1 , . . . , Bm ∈ B 0 such that D1 = B1 ∩ · · · ∩ Bn and D2 = Bn+1 ∩
· · · ∩ Bm . Put
B = D1 ∩ D2 = B1 ∩ · · · ∩ Bn ∩ Bn+1 ∩ · · · ∩ Bm .
Then B ∈ B and x ∈ B ⊆ D1 ∩ D2 .
Therefore B is a topological basis for X, as required.
Problem 3.
Let X = Z and let T = Tdigital be the digital topology on X.
Put A = {n ∈ Z|n is odd}. Compute Int(A) and Cl(A) in (X, T ).
Solution.
Recall that the digital topology T on Z has a basis B = {A(n)|n ∈ Z} where
(
{n}, if n ∈ Z is odd ,
A(n) =
{n − 1, n, n + 1}, if n ∈ Z is even ,
Therefore for every odd integer n the set {n} is open in T . Hence A = ∪n odd {n}
is also open, as the union of a family of open sets. Thus int(A) = A.
We claim that Cl(A) = Z. Recall that Cl(A) = A ∪ A0 where A0 is the set of
limit points of A. Thus to show that Cl(A) = Z it suffies to verify that every even
integer is a limit point for A.
Suppose n ∈ Z is an arbitrary even integer and let U ∈ T be an open set
containing n. Since U is a union of sets from the basis B, and the only set in B
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containing n is A(n), it follows that A(n) = {n−1, n, n+1} ⊆ U . The number n−1
is odd, so that and n − 1 ∈ U ∩ (A \ {n}). Thus for every open set U containing n
we have U ∩ (A \ {n}) 6= ∅. Therefore, by definition, n is a limit point of A. Thus
we have established that every even integer is a limit point of A and therefore
Cl(A) = A ∪ A0 = Z.
Finally,
∂A = Cl(A) \ Int(A) = Z \ A = {n ∈ Z|n is even}.

Problem 4.
Consider X = R2 . Let Tv be the “vertical interval” topology on X (defined in
Exercise 1.19 on p. 37 in the book), and let Te be the Euclidean topology on X.
Give an example of a point x ∈ X and a sequence xn ∈ X (where n = 1, 2, 3, . . . )
such that the sequence xn converges to x in (X, Te ) but that xn does not converge
to x in (X, Tv ). Justify that your example has the required properties.

Solution.
Let x = (0, 0) and xn = ( n1 , 0) for n = 1, 2 . . . ,. Then it is obvious that lim xn = x
in the Euclidean topology (X, Te ).
We claim that xn does not converge to x in (X, Tv ). Indeed, take
U = {0} × (−1, 1) = {(0, t)|t ∈ (−1, 1)}.
Then U is open in Tv , since U is one of the basis elements for Tv . We also have
x = (0, 0) ∈ U . However, there does not exist n ≥ 1 such that xn ∈ U . Therefore
xn does not converge to x in (X, Tv ).

Problem 5.
Consider X = R and let T be the upper limit topology on X (defined on p. 31
of the book).
(1) For A = { n1 |n ∈ Z, n ≥ 1} determine whether or not 0 is a limit point of A
in (X, T ).
(2) Determine whether or not A is a closed set in (X, T ).

Solution.
(1) Put U = (−1, 0]. Then 0 ∈ U and the set U is open in the upper limit
topology T , but
U ∩ (A \ {0}) = ∅.
Therefore 0 is not a limit point of A.
(2) We claim that A is closed in (X, T ). To prove this, we will show that the set
V = R \ A is open in (X, T ).
Let x ∈ V be arbitrary.
If x ≤ 0 then choose y < x ≤ 0 and put Ux = (y, x]. Then x ∈ Ux ⊆ V and Ux
is open in T .
If x ≥ 1 then x > 1 (since x ∈ V = R\A and 1 ∈ A). Choose y so that 1 < y < x
and put Ux = (y, x]. Then again we have x ∈ Ux ⊆ V and Ux is open in T .
Suppose now that 0 < x < 1. Since x ∈ V = R \ A, there exists a unique integer
1
n ≥ 1 such that n+1 < x < n1 . Again choose y so that n+1 1
< y < x and put
Ux = (y, x]. Then again we have x ∈ Ux ⊆ V and Ux is open in T .
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Thus for every x ∈ V there exists an open set Ux such that x ∈ Ux ⊆ V . Hence
V = ∪x∈V Ux and therefore V is open, as the union of a family of open sets. Since
V = R \ A, it follows that the set A is closed.

Problem 6.
Consider the genotype w = AAU GCAGAGCCACU CU
(1) Compute the bonding diagram corresponding to w.
(2) Let w0 = AAAGCAGAGCCACU CU (note that w0 is obtained from w by
changing the third letter of w from U to A). Determine whether or not w0 and w
belong to the same neural network.
Solution.
(1) The folded form of w is shown in Figure 1. The corresponding bounding
diagram for w is showin in Figure 2.

C U A C
U C C G

A G G A
A U C A

Figure 1. Folded form of w

Figure 2. Bonding diagram for w

(2) The folded form of w0 is shown in Figure 3.

C A C
U U C C G

A A G G A
A C A

Figure 3. Folded form of w0

From here we see that w and w0 have different bonding diagrams, and therefore
w and w0 belong to different neural networks.